A Quantum Mirror Love Story
by JenCamp
Summary: An AU Sam loses her Jack. A year and a half later, she is transported to an alternate reality with no way home. And, low and behold, there's a Jack! SJ
1. Chapter 1

**A Quantum Mirror Love Story**

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**Summary: An AU Sam loses her Jack. A year and a half later, she is transported to another reality with no way to get home and low and behold, there's a Jack!**

**Author's Note: I think I've developed a case of ADHD. I don't care if it's not contagious! I swear I've caught it! I haven't been able to keep my mind on one story. Therefore, I am posting this one. I blame lili entirely for this story. Her story, "Gone Underground" on the Sam/Jack NC-17 site has addicted me to Quantum Mirror stories to the point that I've had to write my own to satisfy my craving! I am on the fourth chapter already for this story. Like I said, I've been insatiable! Forgive me for all mistakes and please let me know what you think!**

**Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and all related characters DO NOT belong to me. I make no money from this and only do it so Jack and Sam can be together!**

**Title: I had some really creative ideas for a title for this, but oddly enough, went for the most basic one. I believe the saying goes, "Perfect in it's simplicity!"**

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**Chapter One: Not Another One!**

Sam wasn't sure how long she had been walking around in the dark tunnels of Dakara. Teal'c had been with her for a while, but was called away for a meeting with the council quite a bit ago. The dark, dank tunnels did nothing to cheer her melancholy mood.

She had a lot of reasons to be happy. The jaffa had won Dakara and were forming the Free Jaffa Nation. The goa'uld were no longer a major threat in the galaxy, thanks in a large part to the Replicator Carter. The replicators had been eradicated and everyone was celebrating the flood of victories.

Everyone, that is, except her.

"I wish you were here, sir," Sam's soft voice sounded out in the dark tunnel. "You, of all people, deserved to see our victory over the goa'uld." Sam's eyes began to fill up with unshed tears as a small, sad smile creased across her face. "You should have seen Teal'c, sir," she laughed. "He was so proud of his people…….You would have been so proud of him. I know I am." Sam's hand came up and brushed the lone tear that had escaped off her cheek. "I miss you, sir. So much!"

Sam lowered her head, silently chastising herself for her weakness. It had been a year and a half and she still could not get over him. Not even her father's death, only a few weeks before, was affecting her as deeply as Colonel O'Neill's death.

Sam closed her eyes as a flood of memories assaulted her mind. Amongst them, her last moment with the colonel. He had fallen on the battlefield. Shot in the chest by a staff blast. His vest had failed him and Sam had to live with his death and the guilt that she had wished it had been Janet in his place.

It was at the last minute that Col. O'Neill had complained that his vest was too tight. Janet, drowning in the vest she had on, switched with Jack just before the gate began dialing.

They had both been hit with staff blasts that day.

Janet's had saved her life.

Jack's hadn't.

Sam had lost the love of her life. The man she loved more than anything had slipped through her fingers and there was nothing she could do about it. She had lost him before ever really knowing him the way that lover's should.

And, a part of her regretted that Jack had switched vests with Janet. And, a larger part of her felt selfish and guilty for ever thinking it.

_She had rushed to him when she saw him hit. So many emotions coursing through her veins. Fear, the greatest of them all. She knelt down, yelling his name over the loud booms of gunfire and explosives all around them. __"Sir, hang on! Please!" she had yelled, pulling the vest away from his chest so she could see his wound._

_He reached his hand up and touched her cheek, causing her to stop her examination and meet his eyes. "I'm sorry, Sam," he croaked out, rubbing his thumb over her dry lips. "Sorry."_

_His eyes closed and his hand fell down to the ground._

"_Sir! NOOOOOO!"_

Sam wiped angrily at the tears now racing down her cheeks from the tragic memory. "Damn!" she chastised herself. "So stupid," she complained and sniffled before turning to wander back the other way.

It was then that she noticed what looked like a doorway in one of the tunnel walls. This area of the tunnels was hardly visited and was very dark, so the chance that no one had noticed the passageway before, did not come as a surprise.

Sam walked over and shined her flashlight into the room. The doorway was quite small, the top only reaching Sam's shoulders. But, the room inside was huge. Sam leaned down and crossed the threshold into the newly-discovered chamber.

There were tables and benches sprawled throughout the room, making Sam hypothesize that it had been used as some sort of meeting room at one time or another. It had obviously not been used in a very long time.

Sam's eyes took in the room and landed on a large wooden object against the far wall of the chamber. It looked very similar to an old-fashioned wardrobe. Sam's curiosity peaked, she walked over and slowly opened the large twin doors.

Sam coughed as her lungs were instantly filled with dust. Once the dust settled, Sam took in the sight before her. Shelves. An entire wardrobe of shelves.

The shelves were filled with small devices. Small devices that all appeared to be ancient in design. Sam's eyes sparkled, an odd occurrence as of late, as she took in the new doohickeys. Oh, her day had just improved ten-fold!

Sam's eyes wandered up to the top shelf and to a metallic device resting there. She picked it up, admiring the craftsmanship that had gone into making such a sleek-looking piece of machinery. She flipped it over in her hands, noting the ancient writing on the back as she tried to figure out what it was.

Not seeing any switches or buttons, Sam was just getting ready to put it back down when it emitted a loud humming noise.

Surprised, Sam dropped the device. Inwardly cursing herself as she remembered all the times Col. O'Neill had dropped one device or another in her lab. Sam shook her head and started to lean down to pick up the machine when a light burst from the top, temporarily blinding her.

She slowly opened one eye, testing the brightness of the room.

When she saw what was in front of her, both eyes opened wide in shock.

Standing in front of her was a holographic image of herself.

The image was coming out of the top of the device. It looked exactly like her. A perfect mirror image, except instead of a mirror, it was a hologram.

"Amazing!" Sam breathed, wondering if the Asgaard knew there was holographic technology that rivaled their own. She reached her hand out in a childish curiosity to see her hand go through the hologram.

Instead of going through like she expected, Sam was electrocuted. She immediately regretted her action as she felt the bolts shoot through her body. She wasn't sure if she had screamed aloud or only in her head before succumbing to darkness.

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Sam slowly started to awaken. Her mind taking in the smell, feel, and sounds of where she was. As her mind became more alert, Sam remembered exactly how she had become unconscious in the first place and her eyes shot open.

She looked around the room. This was definitely not where she had been before. She was lying on a small cot in a cell.

"What the hell?" she mumbled, standing up and making her way over to the bars separating her from freedom. "Hello! Is anyone out there? What's going on?" she yelled, only a little concerned about who it might be who answered her.

A few moments later, Sam heard a loud clang as a heavy metal door was opened in the distance. She heard footsteps approaching, and cranked her head the best she could to see who was coming down the dark passage. "Ry'ac!" she exclaimed as soon as she was able to see the person.

Instead of a happy response, Ry'ac looked at Sam with a most bemused expression and then turned and fled from the room.

"What is going on?" Sam complained, agitation fighting with confusion through her body.

It was only a few minutes later when Sam heard the familiar sound of the metal door open again, this time two pair of footsteps clanking down the aisle.

"Teal'c!" Sam exclaimed as Ry'ac and Teal'c emerged from the dark. "What is going on? Why am I in here? Let me out."

"I am afraid I cannot," Teal'c replied.

"What? Why? Teal'c, what's going on?" she repeated the words she had been saying since she had awakened.

"I cannot release you because I know not who you are," Teal'c supplied.

"What?" Sam gasped. "What do you mean you don't know me? Teal'c, it's me, Sam. We've worked together for eight years."

"That is incorrect. Captain Carter perished many years ago."

"Uh, no I didn't. I'm right here and I'm a colonel. What the _hell_ is going on?"

"How have you come to be on this planet? Why did no one detect your presence until now?"

"What? Teal'c, I've been with you on this planet for days. We were just together walking down the back tunnels before you were called away to a council meeting," Sam exasperated.

"You were discovered unconscious in one of the back chambers, alone."

Sam sighed and buried her head in her hands, different possibilities of what could possibly be going on running through her head. Mind-control being in the top three.

Mind-control was quickly wiped from the list of candidates as two more people entered the room. The first was no surprise, but the second threw a whole new group of possibilities into the mix.

"Kawalsky!" Sam exclaimed.

Kawalsky didn't answer, only turned his head from Sam to Teal'c and back again.

"Daniel," Sam started, turning to the other man who had entered the room. "I think I know what is going on. There should be a device in the room I was in. It is some sort of transportation device, working in much the same way as the quantum mirror…"

"The quantum mirror?" Kawalsky interrupted.

"Yes," Sam replied. "There was ancient writing on the back, Daniel. You have to go get it. I'm basically positive I've been transported to another reality."

"Why are you positive you're in a different reality?" Kawalsky asked, his stance indicating he didn't believe the blonde astrophysicist.

"For one, you're dead in my reality," she replied bluntly before tossing Daniel a look that said to do as she said.

Daniel nodded in agreement and asked Ry'ac to show him to the room Sam had been found in.

It was hours later before anyone came back into the holding area where Sam was going stir-crazy. The noise of the door opening was quickly replaced by Daniel's excited yell as he rushed towards Sam. "You were right! I translated the writing on the device you described. It appears to be another form of the quantum mirror. Much more advanced. It also came with an instruction manual…well, sort of. There's another device that basically is like a computer terminal. It explains what each device is and what it does!"

"That's great! So, you know how to get me back home?"

Daniel's excited mood turned somber immediately. "Um, well, no, not yet, anyways. The writing is an abstract dialect of ancient. It's going to take me a little bit of time to translate it correctly. But, the good news is that now we know you are who you say you are and we have orders to take you back to earth."

"Great!" Sam replied sarcastically.

"Teal'c has agreed to let me take all the devices back with us so I can continue translating, so hopefully, it won't take that long to figure out."

Sam nodded, the lump in her throat growing larger. She was stuck in this reality for the time being.

Before long, Sam was released from the holding cell and joined Daniel, Kawalsky, and Major Boyd through the stargate. She was not in handcuffs, but she had no weapons and she felt Kawalsky watching her every move.

Sam emerged right after Daniel and just before Kawalsky on the other side. The familiar sounds and sights of the gate room coming into focus. Expecting to see General Hammond at the bottom of the ramp, Sam's mouth dropped open in shock as she saw none other than Jack O'Neill standing there.

"Sir?" Sam's small voice squeaked.

Jack looked at her briefly. His eyes cold and distant, sending an icy shiver down Sam's spine. He quickly turned his attention back to Kawalsky. "Get her to the infirmary to be checked out. Debrief in ten minutes," Jack's rough voice ordered before he turned and walked stiffly out of the room.

All Sam could hear was her heart pounding madly in her chest. The shock of seeing him alive again and the devastation that he felt nothing for her making her light-headed and dizzy.

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a/n: If you're nice and review, you can read chapter two!


	2. The Voice in His Head

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**Chapter Two: The Voice in His Head**

Janet clicked the light in one eye and then the other. Sam, once her eyes refocused from the bright penlight, could see the unshed tears in the doctor's eyes as she was examined.

"Janet, are you okay?" she asked her best-friend's doppleganger in a soft voice.

Janet sniffled and nodded her head. "It's just….you've been gone for so long," she sniffled again.

Sam cast compassionate eyes down at the petite doctor. Reaching out, she touched Janet's shoulder with her hand. "I know," was all she could think of to say.

Janet strapped the blood pressure cuff on Sam's arm and started pumping the small air-ball. "Everyone has missed you around here…..Your death was taken very hard."

"Thanks. That means a lot to me. I don't know if it should, but it does."

Janet smiled sadly.

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"So, that's all Teal'c said happened before you arrived?" Jack asked at the head of the briefing table.

"That's it," Kawalsky confirmed, sitting in his usual spot in the first seat. "As soon as Daniel and I walked in she immediately recognized us and called out my name in surprise."

"Your name?" Jack asked with a pointed gaze at his second-in-command.

"Uh, yeah, according to her, I'm dead in her reality."

"Her reality?" Jack said in a disbelieving tone.

"Jack! Everything I've found and translated so far, confirms who she says she is.." Daniel interjected.

"Yeah, well, you said you haven't finished translating it yet!" Jack argued.

"No, but…"

"Ah," Jack interrupted, always the one to get the last word. "For all we know, she could be Carter's evil twin and we won't know until you get to the end of the translation."

"Jack! I highly doubt that!" Daniel argued back.

"BUT! We won't know for sure until you've finished the translations, now will we, Danny-boy?"

Daniel lowered his head in defeat. Silently cursing the bull-headed man at the front of the table.

"So," Jack continued, taking his eyes off Daniel and traveling around the briefing table. "We exercise caution around her for the time being. I don't want any information about this reality leaking to her until we are positive she can be trusted. Daniel, get on those translations so we can get her back to where she came from."

"Voice in your head saying we shouldn't trust her?" Kawalsky asked in seriousness, looking at the general.

Jack lowered his head. "No. Doesn't mean we should though," Jack answered just before they were interrupted by a knock on the door and Janet entering the briefing room. "Doc, you got the tests back already?" Jack asked, motioning for the doctor to have a seat at the table.

Janet walked over and took a seat. "Yes, sir." She slid the file across the table to the general. "Her DNA, everything is a match. I would say with 99.9 certainty that this is Samantha Carter. There was just one thing off from our records on file."

Jack's stare shot to the doctor's. "Off?"

Janet swallowed the lump in her throat, knowing that what she was about to tell the general was not going to go over well. "Yes, sir. She has a protein marker in her blood."

(Silence)

"Uhh, as we know, sir, the protein marker is a side-effect to having a goa'uld die inside you. The marker is all that is left after the body breaks down and absorbs the parasite."

No one spoke, but everyone noticed the general's jaw set and lock as his eyes turned black with an inner rage that no one in the room could fully understand.

Daniel, the ever risk-taker that he was, was the first to break the silence. "Jolinar?"

The tension in the room intensified significantly.

"I don't know. It's possible." Janet turned her attention to the silent man at the front of the table. "I-I could go and ask her, sir."

"No," his voice was controlled and stern, yet still revealing a multitude of emotions to the people at the table who knew him so well. "Airmen! Bring her in," he ordered the airmen behind the desk.

The airmen dialed a number and spoke into the receiver.

Jack's eyes returned to the doctor's. "Stay," he ordered.

Janet nodded, and then turned her attention to Kawalsky, knowing that just a look from him could give her the strength to get through whatever was about to happen.

Within minutes, Sam was at the door and entering the briefing room.

"Have a seat," Jack ordered, his tone firm.

Sam sat a seat away from Major Boyd and diagonally across from Janet. Keeping the friendly face of the doctor in her sights.

"Dr. Frasier says you have a protein marker in your blood," Jack's tense voice sounded out, not looking at the newest member of the room.

Sam, a little confused by the question, took a second to recover. "Uh, yes. It was left over from Jolinar."

"Jolinar?" Daniel repeated as he met her eyes.

Sam nodded, still unsure why she was being given the cold-shoulder by Jack.

"And yet, you're alive," Jack said in an accusing tone.

Sam stared down the table at the man she never thought she would see again. "Yes, she gave her life for me. We were in a holding cell here at the SGC after you found out she was inside me. An ash'rak got on base and tried to kill us. The ash'rak was interrupted just before completing the assassination. She was weak, but she gave everything she could to save my life."

No one said a word as Jack, the angriest look Sam had ever seen on his face before, stood up and walked to his office, slamming the door behind him.

The room was filled with a tense silence.

"That's how I died," it really wasn't a question.

Janet lifted her sad, brown eyes to her long-lost friend. "Yeah," she confirmed in a soft voice.

Sam bit her bottom lip, her eyes locked on the closed door to the general's office.

Kawalsky saw the look in the woman's eyes. For the first time since meeting this version of Carter, he felt the need to supply an explanation. "He knew," he quietly stated. "He knew she could have saved you, but she didn't. You both died. He has always known and you just confirmed it."

Sam nodded, understanding the general's reaction completely. Her Jack would have reacted the same way. This thought both comforted and saddened her.

"Well, I should probably get back to the translations," Daniel said, trying to break the tension.

"Can I go with you?" Sam asked.

Everyone looked at Kawalsky.

Kawalsky looked at Jack's closed door, knowing he wasn't going to get an answer from him. "Uh, yeah, just keep the SF with you."

"Fine with me!" Sam replied, standing up. Happy that she wouldn't have to spend the rest of the day locked up in one of the VIP rooms.

Sam and Daniel spent the rest of the day and night deep in their work. They went back and forth from Daniel's office to the labs where there was diagnostic equipment.

They chit-chatted periodically throughout the night. Falling into the old banter Daniel had not experienced in years and Sam had missed for the last few weeks.

Sam was studying the data on the laptop in front of her while Daniel was busy writing down the words from the ancient monitor when Janet scurried into the room. "Just what I expected to find!" her voice shot out, surprising both Sam and Daniel. "You two have been here all night, haven't you?"

"All night?" Daniel asked.

"What time is it?" Sam added.

"It's 0600 hours! I can't believe you two! Come on, shut it down, breakfast and then bed, both of you. Doctor's orders, six hours at least!"

The two overworkers slumped their shoulders slightly and followed Janet out the door to the commissary.

Sam didn't realize how famished she was until she loaded up her tray and dug into her food with wild abandon. As she plowed into her plate, she became aware that it had, in fact, been at least a day since she last ate.

As much into her food as she was, she still sensed him the second he entered the commissary. She watched him as he stood in line, talking with different airmen, loading up his tray with his favorite foods. Without even seeing his tray, Sam already knew exactly what was on it.

Everyone at the table saw her staring at the general.

"You and General O'Neill are close in your reality?" It was an innocent enough question from Janet.

Sam's eyes shot to Janet's. A multitude of emotions swimming in her moist blue eyes before she lowered her head back to her plate.

It was too late. Janet had already seen and understood the look in the woman's eyes.

"We were close," Sam finally answered in a quiet voice. "He was my C.O. for seven years."

"Was?" Kawalsky butted in.

Sam nodded, keeping her head down to hide her misery from the others. "He, uh…..he died. A year and a half ago. He was hit in the chest by a staff blast."

"Ouch." Kawalsky supplied, trying to keep the mood from going completely south. His eyes shooting a silent apology to Janet for the tense atmosphere, yet again.

"Is that when you got promoted to colonel?" Daniel asked between a mouthful of toast.

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Lt. Colonel," she replied in a low voice just before Jack arrived at the table and plopped his tray down.

He looked over at Sam, his eyes soft for a brief second as he took her in. Then, the coldness returned and he sat down. "Figure anything out yet?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"Oh, yes! I've been able to translate almost half the module and Sam has recorded a large amount of energy readings and mineral make ups of the…."

"Did you figure out how to send her home yet?" Jack cut in, stabbing his food with his fork before popping it in his mouth.

"Uh, no. Not yet. I've got a good portion, but there is still a lot more to go and we still need to…"

"Then, you should get to it, Daniel," Jack cut him off again.

Janet, noticing Sam's tense and rigid body, decided to jump in for Daniel. "Sir, Daniel and Sam did an all-nighter. I ordered them here for breakfast and then to bed."

Jack just nodded his head, not taking his eyes off his plate.

Sam coughed lightly. "I'm done. Thank you, Janet, Daniel. I'll go to bed now." Sam stood up, Jack finally lifting his head to see her. "Sir," she acknowledged, tipping her head slightly in respect before picking up her tray and walking away.

Jack watched her back as she walked out of the commissary.

"You know, you don't have to be so rude, Jack," Daniel announced in an angry, tired voice.

"Don't start, Daniel," Jack warned, taking another bite of his food.

Daniel stood up with his tray. "For the time being, we have her back, Jack. Instead of being an ass, you should be talking to her. She's the one person who can take away the demons in your head." With that, Daniel walked away, dumping his tray in the trash and heading to his quarters.

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a/n: Okay, what do you think? Like it? Don't like it? I know where I'm going with this one so it shouldn't take me so long between updates. So, let me know if I've piqued your interest.


	3. One Way Trip

a/n: Glad to see I've piqued so many people's interest! Here is the next chapter. Hope you like it!

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**Chapter Three: One-Way Trip**

Sam awoke in the VIP quarters five hours later. She knew Janet had ordered her to get six hours, but it was rare for her ever to completely obey Janet's resting orders. She stood up and stretched before going to the bathroom and relieving herself and then brushing her teeth and her bed-mussed hair.

Once she felt presentable again, Sam opened the door of her quarters and walked out into the corridor, immediately taking in the SF standing at guard. "I'm ready to return to Dr. Jackson's office," she told him.

The SF nodded and lifted his hand to his ear as he spoke into his com. "I'm taking Col. Carter to Dr. Jackson's office." He put his hand down and motioned for Sam to start walking. "Right this way, ma'am."

Sam really wasn't surprised to see Daniel already back at work on the translations. "I thought Janet said six hours," she joked.

Daniel looked up and shrugged his shoulders. "You know Janet. When she says six, she really means four," he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Sam giggled, happy to see that Daniel was still Daniel, in either reality.

A few hours later the klaxons sounding interrupted their work. Daniel stood up when a strange noise shrieked through the intercom system. "Oh, that's not good!" he yelped, heading to the door.

Sam followed. "What was that noise?" she asked, following him on the quickest route to the control room.

"We've been having problems with our dialing computer. No one seems to be able to fix it and every time the gate dials, the computer goes a little nutty."

"Nutty?" Sam asked in amusement.

"That's Jack's technical term for it," he explained.

Sam just nodded. Of all the things she missed about him, his odd nicknames he gave everything was in the top five.

Daniel and Sam entered the control room. Already occupied by two technicians, Siler, Boyd, and Kawalsky. "What's going on, Charlie?" Daniel asked.

"Computer's fried, sir. There's nothing I can do with it," Boyd's voice sounded in front of the terminal.

"Mind if I try?" Sam asked, her eyes settling on Kawalsky.

Kawalsky, knowing Jack would kick his ass as soon as he found out, nodded his head at her.

Sam let a small smile play at her lips as she took Boyd's seat in front of the terminal. She punched in a bunch of codes, trying to acquaint herself with the outdated equipment in this reality. It didn't take her long to figure out why the computer was acting…nutty.

Jack came up behind Kawalsky while Sam was going over the data. "What the hell is she doing?" he snapped.

"This system is too outdated for everything you have on it. It looks like you just jerry-rigged everything to keep it running," Sam started before Jack could continue his rant. "I can't believe you were able to keep it going this long. Who added all this hardware?" she asked, turning around and noticing the sheepish look on Jack's face.

"Uh, General O'Neill and I did most of the work," Boyd admitted. "Although, Dr. McKay has updated a few networks within the SGC."

Sam groaned. "McKay? You've got to be kidding me!" Then, realizing that Boyd said he and General O'Neill, Sam's eyes settled on the uncomfortable-looking general standing in front of her. "_You_, sir?"

Jack just glared at her, obviously not planning on answering.

Sam took the hint and quickly changed the subject. "Well," she said, turning back around in her chair and punching a few keys. "The good news is, I can fix it."

"The bad news?" Charlie asked.

"It's going to take at least a day, maybe more. I'm going to have to take everything off and completely update the entire system." Sam turned back around and looked at the general, who was just staring at her as if he didn't understand what was going on.

Everyone else in the room also turned their attention to the general, waiting to see if he would approve Sam working on the computers or not.

Jack shifted from one foot to the other. "Fine. Do it. Just….keep Boyd with you. I want him to know everything you're doing before you do it."

"Yes, sir," Sam replied, a flood of relief running through her body at the temporary acceptance of her by him.

Jack, feeling like all eyes were still on him, mumbled something and headed back to his office.

It ended up taking two days to completely update the system. Sam could have had it done in half the time, but she had to explain everything to Boyd before doing it, and then explain everything again as she was doing it. Maj. Henry Boyd was a very smart man, but Sam hated having to constantly repeat herself when she was caught up in her work. Not to mention, every time she looked at him, she thought of the black hole that had sucked him up in her reality.

They were basically done, just uploading files into the computer, when Kawalsky came bounding down the spiral staircase. "You two! Briefing room. Daniel's finished translating."

Sam, surprised, smiled brightly and followed the men up to the briefing room.

She took a seat next to Maj. Boyd, noticing the projector set up at the front of the room. Once everyone was finally in the room, the lights were dimmed and Daniel flicked on the projector.

"Alright, as you know, I roughly translated the writing on the device on Dakara, however, it wasn't until I was able to completely translate all the information pertaining to the device from the ancient computer that I was really able to comprehend the writing…"

"Daniel!" Jack barked in impatience.

Daniel threw a glare at Jack. "Anyways," Daniel carried on, flipping the image to the first writing. "This is what was on the device. It basically translates to: Fate is not a myth. Free will is given to all mankind."

"Well, that was completely useless!" Jack sarcastically responded.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "That's just the first line." Daniel hit the button for the next image to appear. "The next line reads: Most walk the correct path. Others may be led astray."

Daniel stopped and looked around the room, excitement in his eyes. "Daniel!" Jack warned.

"Okay, last line," Daniel hit the button again and the next image appeared on the screen. "For those who have wandered from their chosen path, they are given this gift of another chance."

"What? Is it a riddle?" Kawalsky asked.

"Um, no, not a riddle," Daniel replied, flipping through the papers in front of him and shuffling the clear projector paper around before continuing. "Uh, the instructions on the ancient computer keep referring to 'lost love' and being reunited." Daniel lifted his glasses and rubbed his forehead. "According to the instructions, it's a one-way trip."

"What?" Sam gasped aloud.

Jack's eyebrows shot up on his forehead. "One-way trip?"

"I'm sorry, Sam," Daniel replied, part of him happy that he seemed to have his friend back, and part of him sad that his friend could not go home again. "When you touched the device it determined that somewhere along your timeline, you stopped walking the path fate laid out for you. It sent you to a reality where you can complete your fate."

"That makes absolutely no sense!" Sam exclaimed, standing up in frustration.

"What is in this reality that isn't in hers?" Charlie asked.

"Well, Jack for one," Daniel retorted without thinking.

Sam's face went pale, causing her blue eyes to appear more intense than normal.

"What the hell happened to me?" Jack yelped, being the only one who had not been told of his unfortunate demise.

"You were killed a year and a half ago in battle, right Sam?" Daniel supplied.

Sam just nodded, a vacant look in her eyes and retook her seat.

Jack, for the first time since she arrived, really looked and spoke to her. "I'm dead?"

Sam nodded at him.

Jack was floored. "So, what?" he asked, looking back at Daniel. "There can't be a Sam without a Jack?"

"I don't know," Daniel replied. "Sam coming to this reality might not have anything to do with you. It might have just been the first reality the device found that she was no longer alive in. I just don't know. But, I would like to go back to Dakara. There is ancient writing all over the temple. Something there has to refer back to this device."

Jack let everything sink in for a moment before he replied. "Alright. You can go back to Dakara, take SG-13 with you. In the meantime, the rest of you need to figure out a way to get Carter back to her reality. Carter, figure out what the other devices that were in that cupboard do. Kawalsky, have them ship the quantum mirror from Area 51 here, we may need it."

"We destroyed our quantum mirror, sir," Sam's meek voice broke in.

"What? Why?" Jack asked.

"After a version of myself and Kawalsky came through about six years ago, Gen. Hammond ordered it."

"Wow, you actually had people come through?" Boyd asked in surprise. "We've only had Daniel go through by accident."

"Yeah, we had Daniel go through by accident, too," Sam put in.

"Yes, so Daniel is still getting in trouble in all the universes. What else can we do?" Jack asked.

Sam shrugged. "I don't know."

Jack looked at Kawalsky. "Have them ship the mirror anyways. It may be useful."

Kawalsky nodded. "Dismissed," Jack announced and stood up.

Sam stood up and nodded at Daniel. For the first time, this reality's Jack was including her and she wasn't going to do anything to screw it up. Now, if she could just do something about her lab…….

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a/n: I know the ending for this chapter was bad, but good news, the next chapter will be out soon!


	4. Differences

a/n: Normally, I wouldn't be posting so soon, but seeing as I am already on chapter six, I didn't see a reason to wait. So, here ya go!

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**Chapter Four: Differences**

Sam walked in the door of what used to be her lab. The room didn't look too bad. There was still some equipment, mostly the power and sensor equipment that were too big to move. Apparently, someone had decided to turn her lab into a storage room because there were boxes and odd pieces of broken equipment lying all over the room.

She really wasn't all that surprised that no one else had claimed her lab. At the time she picked this room, the SGC didn't even exist yet. She was working with Catherine Langford's team trying to figure out how to work the stargate. This room was the closest room to the gate room that had adequate reinforced walls and was capable of holding and maintaining all of her equipment.

Once the SGC was established and started hiring teams of scientists, more labs were set up. However, they were quite a distance from Sam's lab. Sam actually preferred it that way. She hated being interrupted when she was caught up in one of her experiments, and with the labs so far away, the other scientists rarely ventured all the way to her lab for mundane things.

Sam took a deep breath and then got to work. It didn't take her too long to clear out the boxes and broken equipment. She wiped all the dust off the equipment that still worked and even fixed a few of the broken items. She managed to sneak down to the labs and "borrow" additional equipment that she needed and was finally working on the devices when Janet showed up in her lab.

"Wow! This place looks great," Janet exclaimed, walking in with a tray with two sandwiches and two cups of coffee.

Sam smiled brightly as she took in the petite doctor. Bringing food to her lab was such a Janet-thing to do! "Hey! Yeah, it took some time, but I actually feel at home again," Sam announced, motioning for Janet to come in and have a seat on one of the stools.

Janet set the tray down on Sam's lab table and took a seat, noticing the metallic device on the table. "Is that the device that transported you here?"

"Yeah," Sam picked the device up and her holographic image appeared instantly.

Janet blinked, but Sam was now used to the bright flash.

"Whoa!" Janet exclaimed in surprise. "Is it supposed to do that?"

"Uh huh," Sam replied, smiling at the doctor's amazed look.

"It looks so real!"

"I know," Sam said and then reached her hand out and swiped it through the hologram. "The first time I tried to do that it sent me here. Now, I can go right through the hologram, and it doesn't do anything. At first, I thought it only worked once for someone, but when Daniel touched it, his hand went right through, too."

"So, then, Daniel's in the reality he's supposed to be in?" Janet asked. Charlie had told her about Daniel's translation already.

Sam shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose so." Then, she picked up a sandwich and took a bite.

Janet looked around the lab. "Any luck with the rest of the devices?"

Sam chewed what was left in her mouth and swallowed. "A little. Daniel and I were able to figure out a few of the devices before I started on the control room. I've been able to figure out another device today but there is ancient writing that Daniel never translated."

"You should have General O'Neill do it."

"What?"

Janet swallowed her own bite of food. "General O'Neill. He can read ancient. He had the ancient repository of knowledge downloaded in his head, twice."

"Oh! Really? He had it downloaded once in my reality, but the asgaard were able to remove it all."

"Here, too!" Janet exclaimed. "But, not all of it was removed." Then, she added, "he only had it downloaded once?"

"Yes, just the one time, years ago. When did he have it done the second time here?" Sam asked.

"Oh, about a year and a half ago. Anubis was on his way to attack earth and he did it to find the lost city. He ended up finding a weapon in Antarctica that destroyed Anubis and his ships."

Sam looked at her friend in shock. "That didn't happen in my reality. He-he died a year and a half ago. Anubis was only taken out recently, by Oma."

"Oma? Wow! I guess our realities do have some huge differences," Janet remarked. "So, how different am I in your reality?"

Sam smiled. "You're pretty much the same. You work too much, worry constantly about Cassie and gripe about men in general," Sam teased.

"Well, I have no reason to gripe about men in this reality," she hinted.

Sam looked at the doctor and grinned. "You and Kawalsky?" Sam had noticed the looks exchanged between the doctor and the colonel, and already put two and two together.

Janet smiled. "There was nothing between us in your reality?"

Sam shook her head as she thought about it. "No, not that I know of. He died before you were transferred to the SGC. As far as I know, you two never even met."

"Wow, so then, I'm not even married?"

"You're married?" Sam exclaimed in shock.

Janet chuckled. "Yeah, Charlie and I have been married for over seven years now." Janet watched her friend's shocked expression and decided to surprise her even more. "We have a daughter together, too,"

"Oh my God, Janet!" Sam squealed. "Why didn't you tell me before now?"

Janet chuckled. "I wanted to, but Jack was insistent that we not tell you anything about our reality. But, now that it seems like you're stuck-uh, going to be here longer.."

Sam beamed a huge smile at Janet. "Can I meet her?"

"Of course! Do you want to see a picture?"

"Yes!"

Janet pulled a picture of her two daughters out of her white coat pocket and handed it over to Sam.

Sam looked at the picture, Cassie was sitting on a bench with a little girl on her lap. The little girl had dark brown eyes and dark brown hair. She had Janet's feminine facial features and an enormous smile on her face. "Oh, Janet, she's beautiful!" Sam gasped, still looking at the picture. "How old is she?"

"She's six. I had just gotten pregnant when you died…… Her name is Samantha."

Sam looked up at her friend and felt her eyes fill with tears. They had given their daughter her name. Sam felt like she had been bestowed the greatest honor.

She wiped the tear from her eye and smiled joyously at her friend. No words needed.

"So then, was I at your wedding?" Sam asked.

Janet grinned. "Of course! You were the maid of honor. General O'Neill was the best man. Cassie was the flower girl. She had only been on earth for a few months at the time, so she was really excited."

Sam grinned, picturing the wedding in her head. "So, how…." Sam really didn't know how to ask the question on her mind.

Janet seemed to understand exactly what Sam was asking. "He asked me out a month after I started working here, but even though we were both majors, I was still his doctor and, technically, I outranked him, so I told him it was against regulations." Janet stopped and smiled a huge smile as she thought back several years. "He wouldn't give up. He wrote up a petition with over a hundred reasons why the SGC should have a separate set of rules and regulations from the air force to abide by. Once he talked Jack, who was second-in-command of the base at the time, to sign the petition, he sent copies to General Hammond, the joint chiefs and even the president." Janet chuckled. "He got what he wanted. A separate set of rules and regulations was established and we started dating. Once Cassie came to live with me, we decided to get married."

Sam grinned. "I'm so happy for you!"

Janet smiled back at her friend. "It was great! I ended up getting pregnant on our honeymoon. Cliché, I know! Everything was great! Well, that is, until, well, you know, Jolinar…" Janet trailed off.

Sam nodded in understanding. "I'm flattered that you named your daughter after me."

Janet brightened back up. "I knew I was going to after you died. I didn't care if she was a girl or boy, she was going to have your name!"

Sam chuckled.

"I did get a little nervous after she was born. Charlie and I had never told anyone what we were going to name her, and General O'Neill had taken your death so hard, I was worried how he would respond. But, really, I think she actually did him good. He spoils her rotten."

Sam looked at her friend, "Was there, was there something between…" she couldn't finish her question.

Janet knew what she was asking, though. "Honestly, I don't know. If there was, you never told me, but the regulations had been changed for months before you died, so there was nothing keeping you two apart, and you were both acting really friendly at my wedding."

Sam swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, her eyes firmly locked on the table.

A sadness filled Sam's eyes that she could not hide from her friend. "Was there ever anything between you two in your reality?" Janet asked in a soft voice, not wanting to upset her friend further.

Sam slowly shook her head. "We, we still had the regulations in my reality." Sam let a choked laugh out. "We didn't have Kawalsky to do what he did in this reality."

"And, if you did?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, he was my C.O. and I wasn't allowed to have feelings for him.."

"But you did?"

Sam bit her lip and diverted her eyes, even now, a year and a half later and in a different reality, she still couldn't admit her feelings.

"You loved him," It almost sounded like a question from Janet, but both women knew it wasn't.

Sam quietly finished her sandwich and the subject was dropped.

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Two days later, Jack was wandering around the SGC corridors, trying to talk himself out of going where he knew he wanted to go. Janet had already told him that Sam took her old lab back. Fixed it back up the way it was before. He knew he wanted, needed to talk to her, but the stubborn part of him was fighting not to.

He knew Daniel was right, the voice in his head was screaming at him to go to her. He learned years ago to listen to the voice. That voice had saved the world several times over the years and if he was going to listen to anyone's advice about what to do about the blonde colonel he couldn't stop thinking of since her arrival in this reality, it would be the voice in his head.

Putting his stubbornness aside, Jack strolled the old familiar path to her lab. "Knock, knock," he said in a soft voice, standing in the doorway.

Sam lifted her head and looked at the general. "Oh, sir. Hi, uh, come in." Sam wiped her hands off on her pants and walked over to her lab table.

Jack crinkled his eyebrows. "Whatcha doing?" he asked, looking at the scrap of metal against the wall she had been working on.

"Oh, well, I was at a standstill with the devices, so I decided to make you guys a naquada generator."

"Ah! Good, that's uh, good," Jack replied, still a little uncomfortable.

"I'm glad you're here, sir. I have a few things I need translated and Daniel's not here, so I was hoping you'd do it," she said, lifting one of the devices and handing it to him.

He knew she was testing him. He saw the small smirk and twinkle in her eye. He knew her too well. He took the device and flipped it over in his hands, without reading it, and handed it back. "How do you know I can read this?"

Sam's smirk spread and she shrugged her shoulders. "A little birdie told me?"

Jack let out a loud sigh. "It was Janet wasn't it?" he cried in a petulant tone.

Sam giggled. "Will you just read it, sir. Just because you can read another language does not make you any less manly."

"Says you," Jack teased, without realizing he was falling into a comfortable conversation with the woman he had spent so much time trying to avoid.

Sam smiled. "Well, then, I guess you don't care that I think this is a cloaking device?"

"What? Cloaking! Cool!" Jack snatched the device back and read the words. "It says it is an in-phase cloak."

"Oh, good!" Sam exclaimed.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"It means that the cloak makes you invisible without sending you to an alternate dimension." Sam saw the confused look on Jack's face and continued. "It makes you invisible, but in this dimension. Therefore, you can't go through walls or anything. Remember when Daniel went out of phase when he looked in to the crystal skull? He was in another dimension and could go through solid matter because it wasn't in the dimension he was in. This device is not the same as that one." Sam stopped talking when she saw the look on Jack's face. Realizing what the look was for, she asked, "um, did the crystal skull incident happen here?"

Jack cleared his throat. "Yeah, but you weren't here. Daniel's grandfather ended up being able to see and hear Daniel."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, my reality, too."

Jack just stared at her. Seeing her again, being able to reach out and actually touch her if he wanted to was starting to overwhelm his mind. "I guess it's just weird to hear you talk about something that happened after you died."

Sam sadly smiled. "I know what you mean. It's weird to have you in my lab again when you've been gone for a year and a half."

Jack couldn't stop himself. He reached up and set his hand on her shoulder. Needing to confirm that she was really there, solid, standing in front of him.

Sam let her head fall down on his hand and closed her eyes, relishing in the contact. "I've missed you," she whispered, her eyes still closed.

Jack swallowed, he wanted to touch her more, but that stubborn part of him had appeared out of nowhere. He lowered his hand. "I-I should go." And with that, Jack turned and fled from the room.

Sam just stood there, a tear escaping her eye as she realized what she had just confessed to the general of the base.

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a/n: Thank you for the reviews. Many times I have come up with a whole chapter just by a simple comment someone made during a review, so believe me when I say they help!


	5. The Secret of Jolinar

a/n: Okay, for those who demanded this chapter "NOW", here ya go! The next chapter is only half done and may be up later this week, but I have no idea when I'll be able to get the chapter after that up. I still have to figure out my next chap to Alt. Politics and put time in for real life. Ignore any mistakes, I really don't feel like reading this chapter again so I'm posting it as is.

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**Chapter Five: The Secret of Jolinar**

Jack visited Sam's lab a few more times over the course of the next few days. He avoided touching her and only stayed for a few minutes, but anyone who saw him immediately upon him leaving her lab could tell his shoulders were more relaxed and his body wasn't as tense as normal.

Even mealtime in the commissary was more relaxed. Sam, having seven years with her Jack, easily fell back into the old banter and teasing they used to share. And, Jack found himself completely at ease around the lieutenant colonel.

A week after leaving for Dakara, Daniel returned with new information. Everyone was called back to the briefing room and Sam saw the apologetic look on Daniel's face when she entered the room. She knew whatever it was he found out, it wasn't how to get her home.

Jack came in and met Sam's eyes briefly before instructing Daniel to start the briefing.

"Uh, well, as you all know, there is ancient writing all over the temple at Dakara. I found writing referring to the transportation device close to where Sam originally found it. According to the writing, the ancients wanted to create a device that could transport those who lost their chance to complete their fate, to a reality where they could have another chance at fulfilling that fate. Unfortunately, the device proved difficult to perfect. Instead of sending someone who simply, went off their path, it would only transfer those who lost their, for lack of a better word, soul mate."

Jack turned his head and met Sam's eyes, a little surprised to find her staring at him with a ghost-white face as Daniel described the writing.

"From what I've been able to translate, the device reads the person's mind when he or she touches it. It takes in all the person's memories and feelings. From those, it decides who the person's soul mate is and finds the perfect reality where both can be blissfully happy together. Apparently, the device determined that our reality was that reality for Sam."

Daniel stopped and looked around the room, his eyes settling on the frightened look of Sam. "I'm sorry, Sam, but the device has already determined who your soul mate is and the only way to get the device to work for you again is for that person to die in this reality. And then, it won't send you home, but to another reality where he's still alive."

Sam kept her head down, staring at her clasped hands on the table. "Thank you, Daniel. I appreciate all your hard work."

Daniel lightly nodded his head and took a seat at the table.

Jack let out a deep, dramatic sigh before beginning. "So, for the time being, at least, it looks like you'll be staying with us." His voice was soft and gentle and Sam couldn't help but look at him when he spoke to her.

"Yes, sir," she replied, her eyes moist as she wondered how much her own reality was missing her.

"We have the quantum mirror, but even if there is another one somewhere in your reality, we can't tell which reality is yours."

Sam nodded, that thought had already crossed her mind.

"Okay, well then, I'll call the president and debrief him. Carter, if you want to leave the mountain, you're going to have to be brought back to life."

Sam nodded, knowing what he meant. "Yes, sir."

"Alight, dismissed."

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Janet and Charlie were just getting ready to go to bed when they heard someone knock on their front door. Charlie shrugged and went over and opened the door.

"Jack, hey, what's up?" Kawalsky asked, knowing something must be bothering his best friend for him to show up out of the blue at 2300 hours.

Jack shrugged and Charlie motioned for him to come inside.

"Jack, is everything okay?" Janet asked, walking into the front room and seeing Jack in the house.

"Hey, Janet, sorry to stop by so late, I was on my way home," Jack replied, his shoulders slumped.

"Want a beer?" Charlie asked, walking to the kitchen.

Jack followed him silently, accepting the bottle from his friend. He opened it and slugged down half the thing before stopping and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "Daniel's been hounding me to tell her ever since he returned from Dakara."

Kawalsky took a drag from his own bottle and leaned back on the counter, crossing his arms across his chest. He knew exactly what Jack was talking about. "What do _you_ think?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know, but I really don't think I'll have to worry about it anymore."

Kawalsky scrunched up his face. "Why not?"

Jack slugged down the rest of the bottle. "I think Daniel's going to tell her."

"You think?" Kawalsky asked in an accusing tone.

Jack shrugged while playing with the empty bottle with his fingers. "You know how he gets. If he thinks someone should know something, he tells them."

Kawalsky didn't say anything, he knew better. If there was one thing he learned from working with Jack and Daniel over the last eight and a half years, it was that Jack had an uncanny ability to manipulate Daniel into doing things that Jack didn't want to do and make Daniel think it was his own idea all along.

"So, she's gonna know, then?" Kawalsky finally spoke up.

"Looks that way. She'll probably say something to Doc or you, I thought I'd warn you beforehand."

"She's going to want to talk to you," Charlie warned.

"I know."

"What are you going to say?"

"Don't know yet," Jack answered and put his empty bottle in the trash. "Thanks for the beer. I should probably get going, don't want to keep you two up."

Kawalsky followed Jack to the door. "See ya in the morning," he said as Jack walked out the front door. He already knew his best friend would not be getting any sleep tonight.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

It was 22:30 and Sam was still in her lab. She let out a yawn, thinking it would probably be a good idea to head to her quarters. She stood up and started shutting down her equipment when Daniel came strolling into the room.

"Hey, Sam," he greeted, coming in and having a seat on one of the stools.

"Hi, Daniel, what's up?" she asked, a little surprised that he was stopping by so late.

"I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am that I wasn't able to send you home."

Sam sat back down. "Oh, Daniel, you did so much. You translated everything we had here and everything on Dakara, it's not your fault that the device is only a one-way trip. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I should know better by now than to touch an alien device I know nothing about."

Daniel looked at his friend and reached across the table to clasp her hand. "We're not done, yet. We're going to keep trying to find a way to get you home."

Sam smiled. "I know, I haven't given up hope just yet."

"If we knew who your soul mate was, we might have a better chance at figuring things out a bit more," Daniel lured.

Sam squeezed his hand. "Your guess is as good as mine," she replied.

"Really? You have no idea who it might be? I mean, there can't be that many people who are dead in your reality and alive in this one…"

"I don't know, Daniel. I really don't know everyone who is alive in this reality."

"What about Jack?"

"General O'Neill?"

"Yes, you know who I'm talking about. He's dead in your reality and alive in this one. I mean, you worked closely together for what, seven years? It's likely you two could have developed feelings for each other. Love, perhaps?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Daniel! I worked closely with you and Teal'c, too. Even longer and I'm not in love with either of you. Besides, I might have had seven years with my version of General O'Neill, but he had barely over a year with me. I don't really think that our feelings would be mutual."

"Thaaat's not exactly true," Daniel announced, dramatically.

"What part?" Sam asked.

"Well….probably all of it, but more specifically, the part about Jack only having a little over a year with you."

Sam crinkled her face up in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Daniel sighed. "You've been told that you died because Jolinar didn't try and save your life in this reality."

"Yeah, so?" Sam prompted.

"Well, there's more to it than that," Daniel told her.

Sam looked at him in confusion and anticipation. "What was I not told?"

"When the ash'rak attacked, he was interrupted, just like in your reality. However, Jack and Teal'c came into the holding cell right after the guards had interrupted the ash'rak."

Daniel paused.

"Daniel!" Sam squeaked, sitting on the edge of her seat.

"What they didn't tell you was that Jack leaned over you, trying to feel for your pulse and Jolinar jumped inside of him."

"Oh my God!" Sam gasped, her eyes wide in shock.

Daniel nodded his head and squeezed Sam's hand. "She tried to save her own life by jumping into Jack's, but the jump basically killed her. She used up all her energy jumping into Jack and she died within hours of entering his body. She wasn't even able to take control of him like she had you."

"But, I don't understand, what does that have to do with me?" Sam asked a few minutes later after the initial shock had worn off.

"Well," Daniel started. "The only thing Jolinar was able to do in Jack's body before dying was transfer her memories to him. But, apparently, she died before transferring very much of them because the only memories Jack really has are yours."

"WHAT?" Sam practically shouted in surprise.

"Because she was in you right before Jack, your memories were the strongest and most prominent in Jack's mind. He has a few memories of Jolinar, but he mostly has your memories."

"What, what kind of memories?" Sam stuttered out, her face turning that pale white again.

"Uh, really he doesn't talk that much about them. He knows how your mom died and has all your feelings during that. He, uh, he was there when your dad died of cancer and I think he still talks to your brother. Really, your thoughts and knowledge have been really helpful though. He calls you the voice in his head and, technically, you've helped save earth quite a few times since dying. It's also how he was able to jerry-rig everything in the control room."

Sam, to say the least, was speechless. This reality's version of herself was to Jack what Jolinar was to her. Sam paled again as she thought about how much she had received from Jolinar. She felt her feelings, emotions, she knew her deepest, darkest secrets. Did Jack know the same things about her? Sam grasped her lab table as she started to feel dizzy. Oh God! What the hell did he know about her?

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a/n: Stay tuned, next chapter involves a confrontation between Jack and Sam!


	6. Confrontation

a/n: I'm not happy with this chapter, but I don't know what else to do with it, so I'm leaving it as is. Hopefully, the next one will be better. On a more personal note, when I first started getting reviews mentioning Martouf, I was confused until it dawned on my belated brain that this story and the last chapter of Alternate Politics both dealt with Jolinar. Don't worry, I promise Martouf will NOT be making any moves on Jack. (my muse only likes to put Daniel in those awkward situations! Hee hee!)

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**Chapter Six: Confrontation**

The next day, Jack arrived at the mountain and headed straight to his office to make a few expected phone calls to DC. He figured he'd be on the phone for the majority of the morning and wanted to have some idea what was going on about Carter in DC before his debriefing with SG-2 at 11:00.

He managed to get off the phone at 10:45 and decided he had enough time to swing down to Carter's lab and let her know how her "resurrection" was coming along before the scheduled debriefing.

However, Sam beat him to the punch. As soon as he stepped out of his office and into the briefing room, Sam entered from the other side.

"Carter! I was just on my way to your lab…" he announced, walking closer to her.

Sam stopped and sized up the general. He seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Oh well! "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked in a tone she had learned from the man himself.

Jack stopped mid-step. Shit! Daniel already got to her! "Tell you what?" he feigned ignorance, his eyebrows arching high on his forehead. He had no idea what to tell her yet!

Sam's steely gaze locked on him and he knew there was no way of getting out of this situation. "About Jolinar."

Jack took in a deep breath, not a clue what to say. "Wasn't relevant."

"Not relevant?" Sam's voice raised several octaves. "You have my memories. I think I have a right to know!"

Jack cocked his head to the side in mock defiance. What the hell? Did he actually hear a hint of disrespect in her voice? Captain Carter never would have raised her voice like that to a commanding officer, especially him! "You're not her," he snarled in an even tone.

"No, I'm not!" Sam snapped back, her eyes dark with rage. "But whether you like it or not, _sir_, those are _my_ memories and feelings. I have a right to know."

"Apparently, you do know," Jack taunted, his eyes flashing with dark sarcasm.

Sam glared at him. "Sooner."

Jack sized up the woman before him. He was not used to this. His Carter never would have squared off with him like this. But, this one, she was older, wiser, obviously worked with him a few years too many. This Carter was self-confident and strong-willed and a part of him felt proud that somewhere along the line, she had learned how to stand up to him with obvious ease. Of course, his stubborn side was pissed. She couldn't talk to him this way, she was the subordinate here!

"What do you know?" she practically growled at him.

Jack felt his anger rise. He never told anyone what he knew about Carter. Her feelings, memories, thoughts, they were all safe and secure in his head. He stared her down, pissed that she had such little confidence in him. In keeping her secrets.

Sam didn't miss the flash of rage that went over the general's, otherwise, stoic face. She knew how to deal with Jack O'Neill, and she knew now was the time to back off a little.

Her voice softened to almost a pleading tone. "Sir, I just want to know what you've got of me in there."

She looked almost desperate and Jack had the urge to pull her in his arms and comfort her. Something he hadn't been able to do for way too long. Unfortunately, just when he thought he might do just that, he heard the voices and sounds of SG-2 heading for the briefing room. His face turning back to stone, his moment of weakness was gone.

"This is _not_ the time or place, _colonel_," he snapped, condescendingly.

He saw the look that crossed her face and knew she was all too aware that he was hiding behind ranks. He watched in fascination as her shoulders straightened and her body stiffened back to it's military discipline. "Your right, _sir_, my apologies. I'll be sure to get with your assistant and set up a proper time and place for the rest of this discussion."

He inwardly cringed at the woman's determination. He was so not getting out of this. "You do that," he replied, trying to sound unaffected.

They were interrupted with SG-2 walking in and Sam quickly left the briefing room, not even looking back at the general before fleeing.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Jack had just sat down at his desk after finishing the debriefing with SG-2 when Kawalsky came barging into his office and plopping down in one of the chairs in front of Jack's desk.

"Charlie?" Jack questioned, raising one eyebrow in Teal'c fashion as he looked at the colonel across from him.

"Next time you're going to piss off a member of the female population, please warn me first so I can get the hell outta Dodge instead of being stuck in the middle of the 'Why men are all jerks' bashing squad," Kawalsky stated, looking maniacally at his friend.

Jack almost flinched as he thought about exactly how upset he made Carter. But, hiding it well, he decided not to let anyone know how much she could affect him. "If you would have been working instead of playing kissy-face in the infirmary, then you wouldn't have been caught in the middle."

Kawalsky, almost looking sheepish, was about to respond when Walter lightly tapped on the door.

"Yeah?" Jack barked at the sergeant in his normal, grouchy voice.

"I was just letting you know, sir, Colonel Carter has set up an appointment with you for 1500 today."

"Thanks, Walter," Jack replied before the airmen turned and fled the gloomy atmosphere.

"An appointment?" Kawalsky asked, turning back to Jack after Walter left.

"Yup," Jack replied with a pop of his mouth. "Consider that your warning."

Kawalsky couldn't help it, he smirked. "You do realize when you're an ass, I end up getting punished for it at home?"

Jack looked at Charlie with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You betcha!"

Kawalsky shook his head. "Ass," he murmured in jest, settling more comfortably in the chair. Might as well hide out here for the time being.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

At 1500 hours exactly, Sam knocked on the general's door.

A little apprehensive already, Jack jumped slightly at the light knock. 'Jeez, is she never late?' he cursed inwardly before calling out, "come in, Carter."

"Sir," she greeted in respect, entering his office and having a seat across from him.

A pregnant pause engulfed the room.

Jack cleared his throat, trying to sound noncommittal. "So?" he prompted.

"So," Sam repeated, obviously uncomfortable.

Jack set his hands down, palms flat on the table and straightened his back, looking at the pretty colonel sitting in front of him. "Look, Carter, you scheduled this meeting, so what, _exactly_, do you want to know?"

Sam bit her bottom lip, something Jack hadn't realized how much he had missed seeing her do until that very second, and looked up to meet his gaze. "I want to know what you know about me, sir," she meekly answered.

Jack let his back relax to it's previous position. He lifted his hands off the table and clasped them together in front of him with his elbows as support. "You're going to have to be more specific than that, colonel."

Sam quickly dropped her gaze. Damn! She knew he was going to make this difficult. That's okay, she could play his game. She lifted her head back up unexpectedly and saw a flash of something cross Jack's face before he covered it. 'Was that fear?' she wondered, her heart picking up it's beat in her chest. "Daniel said you have my memories of when my mom died." That's it, start out easy.

"I do," Jack replied, a little surprised at the easy question.

"What do you know about that?" she asked in a soft voice.

Jack opened his hands and allowed his head to land in them. He quickly brushed a hand over his face and looked back up at the woman before him. "I know she was in a taxi that was hit by a drunk driver. I know you were mad at your dad because he worked late and didn't pick her up. I know your brother Mark pretty much stopped talking to your dad after that and left you pretty much all by yourself."

Sam lowered her head in embarrassment, no longer able to handle the eye contact. "You, you know how I felt, uh my feelings?" Sam whispered, hoarsely.

Jack took a drink of water from the glass on his desk, his mouth suddenly as dry as the Sahara. This was it. This was where he could lie to her and they could both get on with their lives and ignore the emotions he was pretty sure they were both feeling. Yeah, this was the right thing to do, she didn't need to know how much he really knew about her.

And, then, he looked up at her and saw her anxious eyes. Those same piercing blue eyes that he hadn't seen in so long, and the need to tell her, to find out if her feelings were the same, overpowered him. He needed to know. How close was this Carter from his Carter? Is this how his Carter would have turned out if she had lived?

He dropped his gaze. Damn! How could she affect him so much?

When he spoke again, his voice sounded rough in the quiet room. "I know….I know that when you were at her funeral, you wanted to die, too ." Jack saw her drop her head just enough to break eye contact, a slight flush appearing on her cheeks, and he knew that these really were her memories, too. "I know that you cried yourself to sleep for over a year after her death. I know . Uh, I know that you loved the idea of marriage, of having someone permanent in your life, more than you loved Jonas Hanson." He wasn't sure if she noticed his jump from her teenage self to her air force self, but he kept going. "I know that you were royally pissed when West wouldn't let you go through the gate on the first mission to Abydos."

Sam let out a short chuckle and let a small grin grace her face as she remembered just how mad she had been when she was denied the mission.

Feeling more confident now that she was grinning, Jack carried on. "I know you thought I was a pompous ass when we first met."

Sam's grin grew and she, once again, raised her eyes to meet his.

Jack smiled back. "Correction, you thought I was a _hot_, pompous ass."

Sam still grinned and shook her head in amusement.

Jack cleared his throat. "I grew on you, though. Maybe, even….a little bit of hero worship, maybe a tiny little crush before you were jolinared."

This was what Sam was the most worried about. He knowing about her idolization of him. But, the weird way that he turned Jolinar's name into a verb took her focus right off of her own embarrassment. "Jolinared, sir?" she asked with amusement dancing in her eyes.

Jack shrugged, relief flooding his body that she didn't deny her crush. "Well, whenever I say goa'ulded, you and Jolinar start yelling at me in my head."

Sam laughed out loud as she took in his facial features during his rant about the two other minds in his head. "I have Jolinar's memories, so I know what you mean, but I imagine it must be rough sometimes for you with two women in your head?"

"Jolinar was a woman?" Jack screeched out in a loud, surprised voice.

Sam felt her sides start to ache as she laughed hard. "You didn't know?" she managed to get out between her fits of laughter.

"No! I-I, he, she was in a, in a man when you, you know, gave him…" Jack motioned with his hands, too flustered to get his words out.

Sam kept laughing.

"She's a girl?" he said again.

Sam stopped laughing, but no matter what she tried, the smile would not leave her face. "Well, technically, symbiotes are neither male nor female, but Jolinar preferred female hosts, and since what the host feels, the symbiote feels, she considered herself female."

Jack was definitely not expecting to be laughing during this meeting, but, he too, was having a hard time trying to stop. "I-I've had that thing in my head for the past seven years and had NO idea it was female!"

"Don't feel bad, I had to be told she was female, too," she got out in a laugh.

Jack stood up and came around to the other side of the desk and leaned against it right in front of Sam. "For what it's worth, I knew for a fact that you were female," he announced with a sexy smirk.

Sam rolled her eyes. "I would hope so, sir," she replied before standing up.

Jack, not expecting her to get up just then, reflexively reached out, setting his hand on her hip.

Sam's head shot up to meet his dark eyes in surprise at the contact.

Jack immediately let go. "Sorry," he mumbled and scurried back to the other side of the desk.

Uncomfortable, Sam moved towards the door. "Uh, sir, I, um, I know that you have a lot of my memories and feelings, but you should know that I'm not the same person I was way back then."

What the hell? Did she just turn him down? He wasn't offering himself to her! What the hell did she think? Jack cocked his head to the side and studied the flushed features of the woman in his office. "I know that, Carter. Hell, you're really not even her," he finished, drumming his knuckles on his desk.

Sam lowered her gaze and nodded. "So, if there's nothing else…"

"Oh, yeah, dismissed, colonel."

Sam thanked him and fled back to the sanctuary of her lab. The tears were falling before she even managed to shut the door. She wiped at them viciously, ashamed of her emotional weakness. Damn it! Why did he keep touching her? Did he have any idea what his touch did to her? Still does to her? She lost her chance! This was not her Jack. Her Jack was dead. And, yet, the man she just ran from…….he _was_ Jack.

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a/n: Mayogate gets credit for the word, "Jolinared."


	7. Resurrection

a/n: Thanks to everyone who is reviewing! I appreciate your comments! Ignore any mistakes.

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**Chapter Seven: Resurrection**

For the next few days, Jack avoided Sam. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was lusting after her! Because he definitely wasn't! I mean, he already had one in his head. He didn't need her too!

He was sitting in his office when the klaxons sounded and Walter's familiar voice filled the speakers. "Unauthorized off-world activation!"

Jack grumbled, closed his laptop and headed to the control room. "What is it, Walter?" he asked once he arrived.

"We don't know yet, sir. It sounded like something impacted the iris and it looks like we have some audio, but it's too garbled to understand."

Jack ran his hand over his face and stood back up to his full height. "Call Col. Carter, this seems to be her area of expertise…."

"Already here, sir," Sam spoke up from behind him.

He turned around and sized up the woman who had just entered the control room.

She sucked in a deep breath under his gaze. "I, uh, heard the klaxons, thought I might be useful?" she announced in almost a question.

Jack cocked up an eyebrow and moved out of the way, gesturing for her to take a seat at the terminal.

She sat down and got to work, checking over the recorded audio. "Ah," she said only seconds later. "There's a discrepancy, here….if we enhance it and…."

Sam didn't need to finish because, before she did, the voice of one of their allies came through the computer speakers. The voice announced a convention of sorts and wanted the assistance of earth to arrange it. Jack told Walter to respond in the affirmative and have them send through the necessary details.

Sam stood up from the terminal, intent on heading back to her lab. She was well-aware that Gen. O'Neill had been avoiding her and she knew it was her own fault.

"Carter," his voice stopped her before she made it out of the control room.

She turned around to face him.

He shifted his feet and slid his hands into his pockets. "Could I have a few minutes of your time in my office?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, sir," she replied and followed the man up to his office.

Jack closed the door after they both entered. He walked to his desk and lifted a file from the top. "Here ya go," he said, handing her the file.

Sam looked confused and took the file.

"Two weeks ago a terrorist cell that has been active for ten years now was taken out. Soo, you were undercover investigating this terrorist cell when they tried to kill you. Your death was faked so you would no longer be in danger and you could still follow the cell. Once they were all eliminated, you were given your life back. And, that's the best they could come up with," Jack finished.

Sam thumbed through the folder, noting that they had created a detailed file on what she had, supposedly, been doing for the last seven and a half years. They had even put down secret promotions and awards to ensure her rank of lieutenant colonel. "Wow!" she whispered as she read through the papers.

"Yeah," Jack hoarsely whispered back. "Anyways, you're free to leave the mountain now. Uh, I, um.."

Sam looked up at him once he started stammering over his words.

"I have your brother's phone number. You, uh, should know…he got divorced a couple of years ago."

"Oh my God! Why? What happened?" Sam asked in surprise, dropping the folder to her side.

Jack drummed his fists into his sides in nervousness. "You died shortly before your father. He, uh, his anger for the military went out of control. Sue couldn't handle it anymore. She left him, took the kids. I try to talk to him as often as I can, but he's a wreck, Sam."

Sam blinked in surprise. Not just because what Jack told her about her brother, but that he had called her Sam and was talking about her family as if he were a member. Then it dawned on her, in a way he was. He had her memories and feelings after all. He must feel the same brotherly love for Mark that she did. Kind of like how she felt Jolinar's love for Martouf.

Sam gulped. "I don't think Mark finding out the military faked my death is going to decrease his hatred for it."

"No, but you have to tell him. He's your brother……I can make the call for you?"

Sam locked eyes with Jack. "You, you would do that?" she meekly asked.

Jack shifted slightly under her intense gaze. "Consider it done."

Sam nodded. "Thank you, sir."

Jack grinned. "No problem, Carter."

"So then, it's official. I've got my life back."

"Looks that way," Jack softly answered. "I…..know…… I haven't said this before, but, uh, it's nice to have you back, Carter."

His voice had come out in a low, almost vulnerable tone and Sam felt her insides turn to goo. She couldn't help but meet his gaze. "Well, technically, you've always had me, in your head," she tried to lighten the mood.

"Not the same," his voice came through, still low and vulnerable.

Sam suddenly inhaled deeply. His innocent voice doing things to her she never thought were possible. "Isn't it?"

Jack cocked his head to the side and let a slight smirk form on the edge of his lips. "It's much easier to argue with you in person."

Sam lowered her head and grinned. It was just like Jack to make an awkward situation humorous. "I imagine," she replied, shaking her head slowly from side to side.

"I do have one question, though, Carter."

Sam lifted her head back up to meet his gaze. "Yes, sir?"

"Do you _have_ to repeat the periodic table of elements every night to fall asleep? It drives me crazy!"

Sam's grin grew until she let out a full laugh. Her eyes filled with merriment. "I'm sorry, sir! Counting sheep just never worked for me," she exasperated between chuckles.

"_Every night?" _Jack dramatically proclaimed, resulting in Sam laughing again.

Sam's eyes lifted upward to the right as she recalled an old memory. "You used to wake me up in the middle of the night because I was saying equations in my sleep."

Jack smiled. "Doesn't surprise me." Then, he stopped as a thought struck him. "We, uh, we slept together?" he nervously asked.

"Oh!" Sam's face colored and she shifted her gaze. "Off-world. Uh, when we slept off-world. We always shared a tent." She could feel her face getting hotter and hotter. "Um, you didn't like to sleep with Daniel because he snored and since Teal'c kel-no-reemed, he was unaffected, so he always bunked with Daniel. Uh, then when we had Jonas, you," Sam stopped and snuck a quick peek up at the general. He was listening intently to every word coming out of her mouth. She dropped her gaze back down to her clasped hands. "You, uh, didn't trust Jonas with me, you said he looked like a cuddler," she finished, wanting to die right there.

"Oh," Jack quietly replied. "That, um, makes sense."

Knowing the tension wasn't going to leave the room, Sam asked if she could go and soon hurried back to her lab.

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"You're free!" Janet exclaimed, walking into Sam's lab an hour later.

Sam grinned. "Yes, finally."

"Great! How about O'Malley's tonight to celebrate?"

Sam grinned again. "Yeah, sounds great."

"Good! I'll make all the arrangements. Uh, how about 1900?"

"Sure," Sam confirmed. "That'll give me just enough time to finish this experiment and get the schematics for the F-302's and the F-303's drawn up."

Janet shook her head. "I can't believe we actually were able to build spaceships in your reality."

Sam nodded. "I can't believe you've been relying solely on goa'uld ships you acquired over the years."

"Well," Janet replied, smiling brightly at her friend. "We didn't have your brilliant knowledge in this reality for long enough."

Sam smiled, but it soon turned to a grimace as she, once again, thought about her own reality. How would they survive without her? Sure, they had Dr. Lee and Hailey, but was that enough?

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

A few hours later had Jack leaning against the door frame to Carter's lab while she had all her attention on the experiment she was currently conducting.

"Hey," Jack finally broke in when he was pretty sure he wasn't going to wreck her work.

Sam's head came up and she swiveled around to see the tall, well-fit man standing in her doorway. "Sir, hi," she greeted, taking off her goggles. "I didn't know you were there."

Jack smirked and lifted off the wall to stride into her lab. "I know," he replied in a proud voice.

Sam scrunched her eyebrows at him in a playful way.

He walked to her lab table and lightly drummed his knuckles on the top, immediately alerting Sam that he was nervous. "I talked to your brother."

Sam grimaced. "How'd he take it?"

Jack shrugged. "He was pissed. But, we both knew he would be. He, uh, he'll be here tomorrow. He's going to meet us at my house. Is that okay?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, sir."

Jack exhaled at hearing her answer, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sam and increased her own heart beat significantly. "So, I hear we're celebrating at O'Malley's tonight?"

Sam smiled. "Yes, sir. Are you buying? I mean, I'm pretty sure I haven't received a paycheck in the last seven and a half years," she smirked playfully.

Jack grinned. "Hmm, we'll have to check into that. Which brings up the question, where are you going to stay?"

"Oh! Uh, here, I guess. At least until I can find a house or apartment."

"Well, I have a spare room and with your brother coming in tomorrow and our night at O'Malley's, it would make sense for you to use it tonight."

Sam bit her bottom lip, her heart beat pumping so hard in her chest it was starting to hurt. "That's a good idea, sir….If you're sure you don't mind?"

Jack stepped back from the table. "I'm sure. Uh, meet me at the elevators at 1900, we'll drive over together."

"Okay," Sam replied, her body feeling as giddy as a teenager before a first date. Then, her heart beat stopped as a thought struck her. "What was she going to wear?"

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a/n: I love sexual tension. But, have no fear, a happy ending will eventually come!


	8. A Ride Down Memory Lane

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Chapter Eight: A Ride Down Memory Lane

Sam had just finished getting ready in the women's locker room for her night at O'Malley's. Janet had gone home earlier in the day and snatched one of Cassie's more mature outfits for Sam to borrow. Cassie had grown up to be just as tall and skinny as Sam and the two wore the same size clothes. It was not the first time Sam had borrowed an outfit from Cassie. Well, in her reality, at least.

She took one more inspective look in the mirror before sighing and heading for the exit. Her heart rate was already increasing at the thought of riding in the very enclosed space of the general's truck all the way to the restaurant with him.

She was still deep in thought about the general when she stepped into the corridor, her head was down, adjusting her skirt, so she wasn't paying attention as to where she was going and ran smack dab into someone coming from the opposite direction.

"Oh, excuse me," a male voice sounded out before Sam managed to rebalance herself and look up at the person.

When she did, her eyes widened in surprise. "Lieutenant Elliot!" she exclaimed.

Elliot narrowed his eyes at the women whose arm he was still holding after grabbing her so she didn't fall due to their collision. "Uh, have we met?" he asked in confusion, pretty sure he had never seen this woman before.

A flash of recollection crossed Sam's face before she pulled herself to her full height, pulling out of the younger man's grasp. "Uh, no. I guess we wouldn't have," she replied, a sad smile crossing her face as she thought about the young group of cadets she had helped Col. O'Neill train all those years ago and how this particular cadet had perished with Lantash on his very first mission.

His death had been such a waste of a promising officer and she was happy to see him alive in this reality. And then, she remembered that this reality had never become allies with the tok'ra, so it made sense that he would still be alive.

Just then, Daniel came bounding down the hall and stopped when he saw the uncomfortable looks on Sam and Elliot's faces.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"I don't know," Elliot responded first, his curious eyes still on the attractive, civilian-clothed woman.

"Uh, yes, Daniel, everything's fine. Just another difference in realities is all," Sam announced, turning and smiling brightly at Daniel.

Elliot cocked his head to the side. "Realities?" he squawked.

"Uh, yeah," Daniel spoke up. "You've been off-world for the past two weeks so you haven't heard yet. Elliot, this is Lt. Col. Samantha Carter. She is from an alternate reality and will be remaining here for the time being. I'm sure Gen. O'Neill will fill you in more as needed."

Elliot looked shocked for a moment. "Did, did you come through the quantum mirror at Area 51?" he asked.

Sam shook her head. "No, another device."

"Ah," he replied. "So, then, you knew me in your reality?"

Sam nodded, not really wanting to tell him he died in her reality. "Uh, yes, I helped train you for the SGC. You, Hailey, Grogan, and Satterfield."

"Hailey?" he asked in almost a gasp. "I-I…..there was no Hailey in our training group. Only Satterfield, Grogan and Michaels."

Sam scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "Jennifer Hailey wasn't in your training group?"

Elliot's eyes were wide in disbelief. "No. She, uh, Jennifer was at the Academy with me, but, uh, she was kicked out before we graduated, she punched another cadet when he made a rude comment. She ended up working for a chemical engineering company and died a few years ago in an explosion."

"Oh my God!" Sam gasped, surprised to hear about Hailey's death.

"She's alive in your reality?" Elliot asked, his eyes filled with hope.

Sam felt her heart ache at the desperate look on the young man's face. "Yes, she is. She is a valuable member of the SGC."

Elliot gulped, trying to replenish his dry throat, a feeling of relief rushing through his body at discovering Hailey was still very much alive, all be it in a different reality, but still, alive, somewhere.

Daniel coughed lightly. "So, uh, Sam, you ready to go?"

Sam turned her attention back to the bespectacled archaeologist. "Yes, I am. I'm supposed to meet General O'Neill at the elevators," she told him.

"I know," Daniel replied. "He sent me here to tell you he was running a little behind with SG-17 just returning. He just went to change and said he'd be out in a few minutes."

Sam nodded. "Okay, Daniel, thanks," she told him and smiled warmly, nodding at Elliot and saying her good-byes before heading to wait at the elevators.

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Jack gulped as his eyes took in the woman standing in front of the elevators. She was absolutely stunning. The light, breezy skirt she was wearing came to just above her knees, showing off her well-toned legs that Jack had always admired. Her top was tight and clung in all the right places, accenting her flat stomach and round breasts.

Jack felt his body reacting in ways he didn't want it to. Not now. Not at the SGC. And, definitely not in front of the woman who already informed him she had no romantic interest in him. Alone, in the privacy of his home, he could recollect exactly the way she looked and let his body react however it wanted to, but not here, not now.

Jack lightly shook his head, trying to shake his feelings for Carter out of his head. "Ready to go?" he asked, his voice betraying him and croaking the question out.

Sam smiled. "Yes, sir."

Jack tried to smile back, but he wasn't pulling it off well, so just motioned for her to enter the elevator.

Once in Jack's truck, both seemed to relax, slightly. They started chatting about general things, nothing personal. Neither of them could do personal yet. Jack's knuckles had turned white on the steering wheel as her smell drifted through his truck and engulfed him.

The voice in his head started rambling on about how smell is one of the strongest memory triggers and his own mind drifted back to the one unforgettable night he had spent with his Carter before she was infested with Jolinar.

He had been attracted to her the moment he met her. She was beautiful, smart, she still had that vulnerability and attitude that she could do anything that was required of her, no matter what that turned out to be. And Jack had found himself responding to her immediately.

He had been unnerved, and so he goaded her, a natural defense mechanism to get the attention off himself. Kawalsky, having known Jack for years, recognized his CO's discomfort, and had baited her, too. Something Jack had always been incredibly grateful for.

He had found himself griping more than once that fate would make him fall for the one woman he couldn't have. When Kawalsky started jabbering constantly about Janet, Jack subtly started mentioning how many of the air force rules and regulations were inappropriate with the work they did at the SGC.

Before long, Charlie had presented him with a well thought-out petition and Jack signed it with a proud grin on his face.

With the regulations out of the way, Jack was free to date Sam, but his nerves had gotten in the way. He had no idea how Sam felt about him. The fact of the matter was, he was quite a bit older than her, he had a dark past that no one in their right mind would want to get involved in, and she was beautiful, way smarter than him, and had a promising future ahead of her. Jack could see no reason as to why she would be attracted to him.

It wasn't until Charlie and Janet's wedding and the consumption of quite a bit of alcohol that had given Jack the confidence with Sam. As best man and maid of honor, they were required to dance together at the reception. Almost on their own free will, Jack's hands had started caressing Sam while they danced, and he found himself pulling her closer and closer to him.

Before long, they were touching each other, smiling and flirting. And, when Jack mentioned them leaving together, Sam was all for it.

They had gone back to his house and spent the night together. A night Jack would recount over and over in his mind for years. It had been wonderful, they had made love and cuddled in his bed, talking comfortably with each other as if they had been lovers for all time.

When he woke in the morning, she was gone. He was pissed. At her, at himself. He thought that what they shared was because of their mutual feelings for each other, not because of their drunken states. But, with her leaving like she had, his heart broke, thinking he had only been a drunken mistake to her.

His heart turned cold at her rejection and he became a bear, especially to her. He avoided her as much as possible and only spoke to her when absolutely necessary, using the most stern, abrupt speech as he could.

He closed his eyes briefly, trying to push the memories from his mind. He would never forgive himself for the way he treated her those last few weeks of her life. It was only when Jolinar had taken her that he allowed his feelings for her to come back to the surface. And, his heart wept and shattered with guilt when he received Sam's feelings and memories and discovered she had, indeed, loved him.

She had loved him. So much, it scared her. She had never felt for someone like she had felt for her commanding officer, and lying in his bed, she freaked out. She had always been able to control her actions, her feelings, with military precision. But, her intense feelings for Jack took her completely out of her natural comfort zone, and it scared her more than facing an entire army of jaffa. And she ran.

When he started treating her horribly, her heart broke, just as his had. She blamed herself for leaving, taking the punishment as he dished it out.

And, even though he often felt like she was alive in his head, he knew it was only a metaphor, and that just because he had her thoughts and feelings, that it didn't mean she was living on. She was dead. She had died without the knowledge that he had loved her as she loved him. And, that was something he would never forgive himself for. His stupid pride had gotten in the way again.

He pulled into O'Malley's almost on auto-pilot as his memories of his Sam still lingered at the front of his mind. "We're here," he quietly announced, pulling into a parking spot.

Sam smiled apprehensively at him. She saw the look on his face and knew he had been deep in thought for most of the ride to the restaurant. "Are you okay, sir?"

Jack looked at her. His feelings so close to the surface, and this Carter, so close, smelling just like his Sam, looking like her and acting like her, he wanted to grab her and apologize for his actions all those years ago. He wanted to take her and replay that night, fixing all the mistakes they had made, making it perfect, the way he had changed it in his own mind.

But, he knew that this wasn't the same Sam. His apology would mean nothing to her. He would never be able to apologize, he would never be able to go back and fix one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

He smiled, letting the fact that she was generally concerned about him warm his heart slightly. "Yeah, Carter, I'm good. Let's go eat."

With that, they both got out and headed into the restaurant. Both ready to celebrate the beginning of Sam's new life.

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a/n: I hope no one thinks I'm Jack-bashing. His heart was broken by Sam leaving him in the middle of the night and he lashed out. A very human response and something I think he would likely do. The next chapter will be out in a few days.


	9. Uninvited Guest

a/n: I know I said this would be up last week, but with the news that RDA would be coming back for episodes in season 10, I was too excited to write. Sorry! Once again, forgive me for any mistakes.

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**Chapter Nine: Uninvited Guest**

Sam and Jack entered the restaurant, the last to arrive out of their group. Sam entered ahead of Jack and started to head to the section where they always sat.

"Carter, where ya going?" Jack asked, stopping and watching as Sam continued to walk to the other side of the restaurant.

Sam stopped and turned around. "We," she pointed to the section she was walking to. "We usually sit over," her shoulders slumped. "You don't sit on this side?"

Jack, amusement dancing in his warm eyes, smirked and shook his head. "No. The seats over there only sit four people. We always have way more than that."

Sam nodded sadly and then started walking back to Jack. "We only ever came here for team nights. Just the four of us. Except for the one time you, Daniel, and I had the armbands."

"The what?"

Sam shook her head. "Maybe I'll tell you about them later."

Jack smiled warmly. He could tell she was remembering her reality and was getting sad. He put his arm out and swept it forward, gesturing for her to precede him to their "normal" seating area. She let just the corners of her lips perk up as she passed him. He settled his hand on the small of her back, wanting to comfort her as much as he could without making her uncomfortable.

Sam only took a few steps before she saw the rest of the gang sitting around one of the larger tables in the restaurant. It was one of those large circular tables with a booth that wrapped around it, forming a C. As soon as they saw Jack and Sam, Daniel scooted over, allowing Sam and Jack to scoot in on one side.

Jack sat on the edge, across from Kawalsky, then Janet, Boyd, Teal'c took up the entire curve, Daniel, then Sam with Jack next to her. "Already ordered you both a beer," Kawalsky announced, smiling and passing the two each a bottle of beer.

Jack grinned and opened his beer, nodding at Sam's small grin before chugging a large drink.

"Thirsty?" Sam teased, her sad mood diminishing.

"You betcha," Jack replied, setting the bottle down and grabbing Sam's.

Sam eyed him suspiciously as he opened her bottle and handed it to her. "Drink up!" he pretty much ordered.

Sam grinned and shook her head before picking up the bottle and taking a big swig.

A couple minutes later the waitress arrived and everyone placed their orders. Teasing and joking with each other over their appetites and what each person ordered.

While waiting on their food, Kawalsky and Jack both ordered rounds of shots for everyone at the table. Sam tried to protest, but Jack rebutted by telling her he was buying, so she had to drink it.

Sam knew he wasn't making sense, but the childish side, that she rarely let out, went along with it anyways.

After their second round of shots and their second bottles of beer arrived, the waitress brought their salads while their steaks cooked. Sam picked up the large slices of tomatoes off her plate and put them on Jack's, removing his cucumbers in the process and arranging them on her salad. She reached for the bottle of Italian dressing and noticed everyone at the table staring at her. "What?" she asked, looking around at everyone in confusion.

"You just swapped food with Jack," Charlie informed her.

Sam felt the flush creeping up her neck to her cheeks. "Sorry," she whispered in embarrassment, looking down at her plate, her fingers rubbing the fork in her hand.

"S'okay," Jack replied softly. "I…uh, we….did you do that? I mean, with me….him….the other me?"

Sam's cheeks were burning now. She nodded, her gaze still locked on her uneaten salad. "Yeah," she replied, barely audible. "I don't like tomatoes and you don't like cucumbers, we always used to swap. I-I haven't swapped food since you died, I don't know why I just did it."

"Habit," Jack supplied, feeling jealous that his alternate self had so many more moments with Sam than he did. "It's kind of nice. I really hate cucumbers," Jack finished, making a face and trying to lighten the mood.

Daniel, not getting the hint to drop the subject, continued to dwell. "But, Jack never lets anyone touch his food!"

Jack sighed, wishing he could reach around Sam and smack Daniel upside his head without anyone noticing.

Sam lifted her head to look at Daniel next to her. "Only his desserts, Daniel," she declared before realizing she was referring to her own Jack. "And you and Teal'c are just as bad when it comes to sweets! Teal'c does that whole death-glare when anyone even looks at his ice-cream."

Once again, everyone was looking at Sam strangely.

Daniel snickered. "You do get greedy with the ice cream, Teal'c."

Jack laughed out loud, his arm going around the back of Sam and squeezing her shoulder before dropping it, running it slowly down her back before pulling it back up to rest on the back of the seat.

Sam's body warmed a few degrees by the contact and she squirmed in her seat, subconsciously scooting closer to Jack. She could feel his body heat radiating towards her and the alcohol was causing her head to buzz simultaneously.

Sam's attention fell back on her cucumber-covered salad, and she finally drenched it in Italian dressing and dug in. Jack theatrically moaned as he ate each of the tomatoes off his salad, causing Sam to lightly elbow him and everyone else to laugh.

Shortly after finishing their salads and the complimentary breadsticks that had been sitting in the middle of the table, their dinner arrived. Sam reached the salt and pepper first, and after sprinkling the spices on her steak, she handed them to Jack, grabbing the steak sauce and doing the same with it.

Jack and Sam were both oblivious to everyone staring at them as Sam handed him everything he always added to his dinner. They eventually started eating, not even noticing how quiet their table had gotten.

The alcohol kept on coming as the dinner was slowly eaten and cleared away. Jack had just come back from the restrooms with another round of beer, causing Daniel to groan in protest. "Oh, Daniel, it's a celebration. Do it for Carter," Jack told him, still standing at the end of the table, sorting his bills in his wallet before sitting back down.

As soon as he sat down, Sam took Jack's bottle from him and hid it on the other side of her body.

"What the?" Jack started, looking around for his bottle. Charlie and Janet were smiling at her and Sam couldn't help but giggle.

"Oh, you want to play games, do ya, Carter?" Jack announced in a playful voice.

"I have no clue what you are talking about, sir," she replied, trying, unsuccessfully, to keep the smile off her face.

"Uh, huh," Jack replied, reaching one arm around her back and setting the other one on the table across Sam. "And, what would that be on the other side of you?"

"Nothing," she said between a laugh.

Jack grinned, his alcohol-heavy mind trying to figure out how to get his bottle back with the most amount of human contact without being noticeable. "Well, let's just see about that," he said, moving both arms at the same time and wrapping them around Sam's slender frame.

Sam squealed her protest, kicking her feet uselessly. "Sir!" she cried between giggles as he assaulted her sides with his fingers, tickling her to the point of hysterics.

"Ca-ar-ter," he drawled, pulling her closer to him while he tickled her sides, the bottle of beer forgotten.

"Hello, Jack."

Everyone, except for Sam who was still laughing, froze at the sound of the voice. Jack stopped tickling Sam, but his arms still stayed wrapped around her as if they were stuck. "Kerri? Uh, what are you doing here?" Jack managed to get out after staring at the auburn-haired woman for several seconds.

Kerri cleared her throat and Jack finally removed his arms from around Sam. "I got some time off and thought I'd come out and surprise you." She looked at Sam for a moment and then back to Jack. "Apparently, I was successful."

Sam looked at the woman in confusion. She had no idea who she was. Hoping to get some sort of vibe from the rest of the gang, she looked over at Janet and Charlie. They were both avoiding her eye-contact. In fact, Sam noticed everyone was avoiding looking at her.

After several very uncomfortable seconds, Jack finally made a noise similar to a grunt and stood up quickly. "Well, welcome, then. Uh, we were um, all celebrating Carter being back. Uh," Jack looked from Kerri to Sam, a guilty, sad look in his eyes as he stared down at the confused colonel sitting at the table staring up at him. "This is Lt. Col. Samantha Carter. Uh, Carter, this is Kerri Johnson, uh, CIA. She works in Washington. Helps out with…stuff….from time to time."

Kerri looked at Sam, a fake smile plastered on her make-up clad face. "It's nice to finally meet you, uh, colonel, is it?"

"Yes," Sam answered, standing up momentarily to shake the woman's hand. "Nice to meet you, too."

"So, how much more celebrating is there left to go?" Kerri asked, looking at each member of the table.

"I'll, uh, go get you a drink," Jack said, taking a step away from the table and holding his finger up towards Kerri. "What do you want?"

"A chardonnay," Kerri replied, slipping into the seat next to Sam.

Sam scooted over closer to Daniel and noticed Charlie roll his eyes while Kerri adjusted herself in Jack's spot.

Kerri looked up to see Jack at the bar and felt the irritation radiating from the others at the table. Coming here had seemed like a good idea, but she really didn't want to have to deal with Jack's friends. "Oh, that goofy man, I should go help him," she announced with a laugh before standing back up and heading to Jack at the bar.

Sam watched her walk away. As soon as the woman was out of earshot, she turned on her so-called friends at the table. "Who is that woman?" she asked, looking pointedly at Janet and Charlie.

"Agent Kerri Johnson. She's the CIA agent in charge of the investigation of the goa'uld still at large from the trust incident. Uh, she and Jack kinda get together, sometimes, when she's in town," Charlie said in a quiet voice, his shoulders slumped down and his head low to the table.

"Oh," Sam softly replied, her face turning crimson again. She lowered her gaze from Charlie's, not wanting anyone to see how much this new information was affecting her. Then a thought struck her. "Oh!" Her head snapped back up, her eyes wide in terror. "I can't stay with him tonight! I don't want to be there when they're….."

"It's okay, Sam, you can stay with us," Janet quickly interrupted, knowing how uncomfortable her friend must be. "Cassie is still at school, so you can have her room."

Sam nodded, grateful for her friend's invitation. "Um, I actually think I'm all partied out. You guys aren't ready to leave yet, are you?" she asked with pleading eyes.

Charlie smiled knowingly at her. "Yeah, I'm ready, and since you're coming to my house for the night, I am obviously your ride, so ladies, if you would allow me to escort you to my awaiting chariot?"

Janet giggled and smacked Charlie in his arm.

Sam smiled warmly at the couple.

"I shall depart, also," Teal'c announced from his spot.

"Yeah, Daniel, I'm ready, too. You riding home with me?" Boyd asked, feeling just as uncomfortable as everyone else.

"Oh, yeah," Daniel replied, shuffling out of the seat behind Sam.

Just as Daniel crawled out of the seat, Jack and Kerri arrived back at the table. Jack looked around holding unopened bottles of beer in his hands. "What's going on?" he asked, looking around at the guilty faces of his friends.

"Uh, T's ready to split, so we all thought we'd head off, too," Kawalsky announced as he helped Janet on with her jacket.

Jack turned to Sam, his eyes filled with confusion. "Carter? I'm your ride," Jack said quietly.

Sam took in a deep breath and then bit her bottom lip. "Uh, yeah, about that, I thought you'd like some privacy so I'm just going to stay with Janet and Charlie."

"What?" Jack asked, his shoulders slumping and his face covered in disappointment. "What about your brother?"

"Um, well," Sam stuttered, having forgot about her brother.

"It's okay, Sam, you can borrow my car in the morning and go to Jack's house."

"Okay," Sam replied, quickly looking at Janet and thanking her silently.

Jack let out a long sigh. "You sure?" he asked in a quiet voice and looked at Sam.

Sam gulped as she took in the intense look on Jack's face. Could he really be that upset that she wasn't going home with him?

"She's sure, Jack," Kerri's voice cut in.

"Thank you, sir," Sam finally answered. "But, I'm sure. I really want to meet little Samantha anyways."

Jack followed the group as they walked to the door, leaving Kerri standing by herself at their table.

Teal'c, Daniel, and Boyd nodded their good-byes and walked out the door, Charlie and Janet right behind them. Just as Sam went to walk out the door, Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her back in. "Sam," he breathed as he pulled her back towards him.

Sam's heart jumped at the deep sound of Jack's voice softly calling her name. "Sir?" she asked, looking up into his deep eyes.

"I'm sorry," he told her, still holding onto her arm. "I didn't know she was going to come…."

"I know, it's okay, really. I really am looking forward to staying with Janet," Sam replied, trying to smile and reassure him that she wasn't holding a grudge against him for his uninvited guest. She looked past him to the area where she knew his girlfriend was. Where they were at, they had limited view of the restaurant and the restaurant had an even smaller view of them. "You should probably get back to your, uh…" What was she supposed to call her? His girlfriend? Sam had no idea!

Jack looked behind him in the same direction Sam was looking. He turned back to the woman he was still holding on to. "It's not serious or anything," he told her, his other hand shooting up and running over his hair.

"It's none of my business," Sam immediately replied, lowering her head to the floor.

"Well, I just, I wanted you to know. Uh, yeah, anyways."

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Well, I should probably go, I don't want to keep them waiting."

Jack pulled his arm back quickly as if he just realized it was still there. "Yeah, I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay, bye, sir," Sam replied before turning and rushing out of the restaurant.

"Bye," Jack replied in her wake. He watched the door swing shut and shake briefly on it's hinges before completely going still again. Finally, he turned and headed back to his uninvited guest. The celebration now definitely over.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

a/n: Did any of you really think I was going to make it easy for them to get together? All death-threats can be forwarded to my bodyguard Katie, you can find her under the profile name: bamagirl.


	10. Sibling War

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Chapter Ten: Sibling War**

The next morning, Sam woke up to two little dark eyes staring at her. "Hi," Sam groggily said, a smile lighting up her sleepy face.

The little girl frowned, but kept her position next to her big sister's bed.

"You must be Samantha," Sam continued when it was apparent the little girl wasn't going to say anything.

The girl nodded, her unbrushed brown hair bouncing with the movement. "Uh, huh," she finally replied.

Sam smiled. "Me too."

The little girl squinted her eyes quizzically at Sam. "You're Sam?"

Sam's smile grew to an open-mouthed grin. "Sure am. You and I, we've got a lot in common," Sam told her, sitting up and scooting over to let the girl climb up in the bed with her.

"I thought you died," Sammie said, climbing up on the bed with Sam.

Sam gritted her teeth briefly. "No, I had to go away for a long time, but now I'm back."

"Oh," Sammie replied, accepting Sam's words without question. "Cassie missed you."

Sam settled her arm around the girl, letting her cuddle into her side. "I know, I missed her too," Sam told her, a tear forming in her eye as she thought about Cassie.

Sammie looked up at Sam with a thoughtful, somewhat worried look on her face.

"What?" Sam asked her.

"Now that you're back, do I have to give you back your name?"

Sam chuckled. "No, sweetie. That's your name. You get to keep it."

"Then, how will people know us apart?"

Sam scrunched her face up as she pondered the girl's question. "Hmm, well, most people call you Sammie, right?"

"Uh, huh."

"Most people call me Sam….or Carter, so I don't think we'll confuse them too much."

"Okay, then." With that, Sammie hopped down off the bed in a swift move only a child could pull off. "You gonna make me breakfast or what?"

Sam grinned. "Sure," she replied and followed the girl to the kitchen.

It was there that Janet and Charlie found the two Samantha's twenty minutes later. Flour lightly dusting the air and the smell of eggs and bacon cooking on the stove.

"Geez, Carter, if I knew you were going to make breakfast, I would've got you out of that mountain sooner," Charlie teased, finding his way to the coffee pot.

Sam laughed. "Oh, wow, yeah, thanks for the back-up there, Kawalsky," she teased back.

"Mommy, why do Sam and daddy call each other by their last names?" Sammie asked, turning to face her mom with a confused, innocent expression.

"It's a military thing, sweetie. Jack calls daddy by his last name sometimes, too."

Sammie accepted the excuse and turned back to her breakfast.

Sam watched the adorable little girl with a smile on her face.

Charlie stole a glance at Sam as she watched his daughter, never expecting a situation like this to ever happen. "She's very inquisitive. Questions everything. Jack swears it's the name," Charlie announced, seconds later, grinning at the blonde woman.

Sam's smile grew as her cheeks flushed slightly and she lowered her gaze to the floor. Now that the alcohol had worked its way out of her body and her head was, once again, clear, Sam was ashamed of herself and how she had acted towards General O'Neill the night before.

She had flirted and touched him and sat way too close to him. Something she normally would never have done, no matter how much she wanted to. And, as she had sat at that table, playfully wrestling with him in front of all their friends, she knew she would have given herself to him completely that night, if not for the interruption of his girlfriend arriving.

She had been that drunk. She would have slept with him. And, even now, with a clear head, she felt a stab of disappointment that Kerri had showed up and wrecked her night of drunken confidence.

Breakfast came and went, and after nervously getting ready, Sam accepted Janet's car keys, and reluctantly left the warm, loving Kawalsky home and made her way over to General O'Neill's.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Jack and Kerri had left the restaurant right after the rest of them. Jack's somber mood taking over and Kerri feeling like her place in Jack's life was being threatened. They had gone back to his house and he immediately crashed, not even giving her a passing glance. She could feel him slipping away from her and she was desperate to hold on to him.

She had known about Carter. She had always known. But, she could compete with a ghost. Now, that the ghost was flesh and blood, Kerri was much more worried. She knew this would be a hard battle to win.

She had crawled into bed with him, naked, expecting to at least get some sort of reaction from him by morning. However, the next morning, she awoke to an empty bed, Jack had never even made a move on her!

She found him on his back deck, scrubbing his grill. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

Jack stopped and turned around, wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. "Oh, I didn't know you were up," he greeted. "Uh, I thought I'd get some cleaning done before Carter and her brother got here. Figured we could have a barbeque."

"A barbeque?" Kerri repeated. Jack knew how much she hated grilling.

"Yup!" he replied, turning back to his grill. "Haven't used this in awhile, thought I should probably scrape it off a bit."

She made a disgusting face that Jack never saw. Kerri lightly sighed, giving up on him for now and going back in the house.

A few minutes later, she was shuffling through his refrigerator, trying to find something healthy to eat, when Jack walked in. "Uh, I was thinking…perhaps….you should go shopping or something. There's probably going to be a big confrontation between Sam and Mark and you shouldn't have to witness it."

Kerri replied in an irritated tone. "You're asking me to leave?"

Jack looked taken aback. "Well, just for a few hours."

Kerri sighed. "Fine. I need to buy some food to eat anyways."

"I've got food!" Jack defended playfully, trying to lighten the mood.

"Food that won't clog my arteries," she defined and then shut the refrigerator door.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Shortly after Kerri left, a taxi pulled up and deposited Mark Carter on Jack's doorstep. Jack quickly opened the door and let him in. "Mark," he greeted with a smile, holding out his hand to shake.

Mark took the man's hand and shook it warmly. "Jack, how've you been?"

"Good, you?" Jack asked, showing him in and closing the door.

"Shit, like always," was Mark's downtrodden response.

"Sorry to hear that," Jack quietly replied, heading to the kitchen to get the man a beer. Even if it was only 10:00 in the morning.

"So…..where is she?" Mark asked, accepting the beer from Jack.

"Not here yet," came Jack's quick response. "Spent the night with Janet and Charlie."

Mark nodded. "I expected she'd be staying with you."

Jack shifted his gaze to several different spots around the room, unable to keep his eyes on any one thing. "Uh, yeah, she was going to, but then I had an unexpected visitor."

Mark gave Jack a funny look before asking, "The CIA agent?"

Jack frowned and lowered his head, his attention drawn to his hands, manipulating the wrapper on his own beer bottle in them. "Yeah," came his quiet response.

"Bet that was a smack in the face for Sam," Mark replied, almost gleefully.

Jack had the sense not to respond.

"Did you know?" Mark asked, walking into the living room.

Jack had been expecting this question ever since he filled him in on Sam's cover story. "Uh, no. I was in the dark as much as you."

Jack saw the man's body tense. He was pissed and Jack knew it. He wanted to calm him down. Talk some sense into him. Get him to see Sam's side before she arrived, but he never got the chance. Sam's knock on the door assured him of that.

Jack sighed. 'Showtime,' he silently said and walked to the door to let the newly resurrected lieutenant colonel into his house.

"Carter," he greeted, almost before actually seeing her on his doorstep. He knew it was her.

"Sir."

"Mark's already here." He saw her body tense at his words. She looked up in his eyes, nervous blues innocently pleading for his strength. He backed up and allowed her entrance.

Sam walked in and took the small steps into Jack's living room. Mark was turned away from her, looking at the photos on Jack's mantle. "Mark," she said, her voice wavering slightly as she tried to find the confidence to face her pissed-off brother.

Mark turned around, flashing his sister with an angry glare. "Sam," he snorted. "All safe and sound, I see."

Sam lowered her head, licking her lips and trying to find the right words to say. Her brother had always had an explosive temper, much like a certain general she knew well. Once he and their dad had reconciled, his temper had cooled significantly over the years, however in this reality, that reconciliation and healing never took place.

"Mark, I know you're upset, but I had no other choice. I did what I had to do to stay alive."

"You did what you had to do!" Mark snarled back. "It's always about you and what you HAVE to do! Damn it, Sam! Dad died and you weren't even there! He blamed himself for your death! Did you know that?" Mark let out a maniacal laugh. "And you weren't even dead!"

Sam gulped, no idea what to say.

"He told me he should have never pushed you to enter the military. Did you know that? His cancer was under control, then you died and it came back full-force, Sam! Your death made him give up. It's your fault dad died when he did!"

"MARK! Enough!" Jack's strong voice sounded out behind Sam. Sometime during Mark's rant, Jack had moved into the living room, coming up behind Sam for support. After warning Mark, Jack let one hand rest on the small of her back, giving Sam the confidence to stand up to her irate brother.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Mark," she replied, her voice strong, but vulnerable at the same time.

"Yeah," Mark snapped. "Me, too. Almost to the point of wishing you really were dead! Now, it's not just the military I hate, but my baby sister, too."

Sam felt Jack tense behind her and knew he was ready to defend her honor. It was touching in a warped sort of way, but Sam knew she couldn't let Jack get into it with Mark. The two men had grown close over her death, and she didn't want to wreck that for them. Leaning, just a little, towards Jack, Sam sucked in the confidence she needed. "Perhaps one day you'll be able to forgive me and get back to living your own life."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Mark sneered.

Sam squinted her eyes at her brother, standing up to her full height. "Whatever you think it means, Mark. My life is my life, whether you agree with it or not. So, get over yourself and go back to your own life."

"I AM living my own life!"

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure before I….left you were happily married."

"Don't bring her into this!" Mark raged, taking a step closer to his sister, his fist clenching at this side.

"Why not, Mark? Obviously you've allowed my death to wreck your marriage, why shouldn't we let your divorce wreck our relationship?"

"We don't have a relationship!"

"We will always be brother and sister! When you're ready to move past your hatred, Mark, give me a call."

Mark glared at his sister, fighting the urge to smack her across the face. Letting out a harsh breath he brushed roughly past her and walked to the door. Yanking the door open, he turned to see Jack watching him in the living room. "Thanks for the beer, Jack," he yelled before briskly walking out the door, slamming it behind him.

"You okay?" Jack asked, his hand still resting on the small of her back.

"Yeah, I feel bad for him."

"I know, but don't you dare feel guilty, Carter! You didn't betray him. It's all a lie, don't forget that."

Sam took a step forward out of Jack's touch and turned around to face him. "Thank you, I won't."

Jack grinned. "Good, cuz I was planning on invited the gang over for a BBQ."

Sam grinned. "A BBQ, really? Hmm, it has been ages since I've been subjected to an O'Neill BBQ."

"See there, you are way overdue, ma'am," Jack replied, playfully.

Sam's smile grew. "Can't wait," she quietly replied, her eyes dancing in merriment as she gazed into the loving eyes of Jack O'Neill.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**a/n: **Sorry for the crappyness that was this chapter, but I had a hard time writing it. I actually wrote half of it days ago, and just now finally came back and forced myself to get it finished. It wasn't supposed to end like that, but it's all I can do at the moment. The next chapter will be better and will deal with Kerri and Sam. Perhaps a confrontation?


	11. BBQ

_Previously:_

_Jack grinned. "Good, cuz I was planning on inviting the gang over for a BBQ."_

_Sam grinned. "A BBQ, really? Hmm, it has been ages since I've been subjected to an O'Neill BBQ."_

"_See there, you are way overdue, ma'am," Jack replied, playfully._

_Sam's smile grew. "Can't wait," she quietly replied, her eyes dancing in merriment as she gazed into the loving eyes of Jack O'Neill._

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Chapter Eleven: BBQ**

Jack smiled back, his hand still warm from her contact. All of a sudden feeling uncomfortable, he shifted nervously on his feet.

Sam watched his movement and correctly interpreted it. This Jack O'Neill was exactly like hers was. Every gesture, every smirk, every movement, exactly like her Jack's. In a way, it was comforting, familiar, and then again, it was distressing to know that he was Jack O'Neill, and yet, not _her_ Jack O'Neill. Taking a deep breath, Sam moved her attention across his room, taking in the old familiarity of his humble abode. "Your house, uh in my reality……it looked just like this one," she ended in a forced laugh.

Jack's hands made their way into his pockets and he slowly started to sway back and forth on the heels of his feet. "Yeah? I guess that really doesn't surprise me."

Sam let a small smile appear at the corners of her mouth. "Actually…..it really doesn't surprise me, either."

Jack's eyebrow shot up his forehead in a playful manner. "What are you saying, colonel, I'm not that complex?"

Sam turned her attention back to Jack, a teasing look on her face as she lightly shrugged and grinned at him. No words needed.

"Hey!" Jack quickly replied to the non-verbal insult. "I can do complex!"

Sam just shook her head lightly and turned to look at the pictures her brother had been admiring when she had interrupted. Her eyes fell on a familiar photo she wasn't expecting to see.

It was her.

There were other photos of her in his house, but the others were SG photographs, and usually had Cassie or Daniel or someone else in the photograph with her. But this photograph, it was just her. Before the Stargate Program, before the Pentagon. This was the photograph her father took when she graduated from the Air Force Academy.

Jack saw what had captured his guest's attention and felt his arms tickle with gooseflesh. "Uh, I liked the picture?" he stumbled over his words, trying to find an adequate excuse for having such a photo of her in the special position on his fireplace mantle.

Sam turned her head to look at him, her eyes searching his for an explanation. "You have my memories of graduating?"

Jack dropped his head, nodding in the process. "Yeah," he said in a whisper.

Sam exhaled loudly. Once again, the worry of what all he had of her memories flooding her mind.

The air thickened as the tension in the room grew exponentially.

Jack finally took a step back. "I have something to show you, come on," he told her and nodded his head towards his garage door, his hands still safe in his pockets.

Sam meekly followed him, at the same time wishing she had a good excuse to get away from him.

Jack opened the door to his garage and entered, Sam right behind him. He walked over and pulled the gray cover off one of the cars, revealing Sam's Volvo.

Sam gasped. "My, my car!"

Jack watched her in amusement.

She reached out and touched her precious classic. It was in obvious better shape than the one in her reality.

"I've only driven her a few times. She's mostly been up on blocks in here. I couldn't sell her," Jack announced, walking over to the other side of the garage and pulling off another cover. "Or this."

Sam looked over to where Jack had gone. "My bike!" she squealed in delight. "Holy Hannah, sir! I-I don't know how to thank you."

Jack grinned. "No thanks are needed, Carter. The you in my head wouldn't let Mark sell them."

Sam's eyes were, once again, filled with glee. "Can I, are you, uh," Sam swallowed, her words getting ahead of her.

"They're yours, Carter. I wouldn't keep them from you," he quietly replied to her jibberish. "I have some more of your stuff in my attic. Oh! And a few things around my house. Mark took a few things and wanted to give the rest to charity, but everything I saw brought out one of your memories, and I just couldn't get rid of them." he confessed.

Sam bit her bottom lip, knowing how hard it must have been for him to confess that to her, and not knowing how to reply to it. "Thank you," she finally whispered out.

"Welcome," he replied warmly before they both heard the front door to his house open and a child yell, "Ja-ack! Where are you?"

Sam and Jack looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Sammie."

Jack coughed. "We're in here, Sammie!" he yelled as he walked towards the door.

Just as Sam made it to the door, a blob of brown went screeching by and jumped into the arms of Jack O'Neill. "Jack!" Sammie squealed in his arms.

"Sammie, baby," Jack replied, tickling the bundle in his arms and blowing raspberries on her neck. "How's my best girl doing?"

"Great!" she replied out of breath and then looked over at Sam. "Sam!"

"Hey, sweetie," Sam replied, grinning.

"Aren't you so happy that Sam's back, Jack?" Sammie squealed again, her small hands on Jack's shoulders.

Jack looked over at Sam, seeing the flush that was forming on her light cheeks. Grinning, he turned back to Sammie. "You betcha!" he told the little girl, feeling Sam's gaze burn into the side of his face.

The rest of the morning flew by, and by noon, Jack was lighting the grill and starting the BBQ. Everyone had arrived right after the Kawalsky's and were all chatting in the backyard, settled into Jack's lawn chairs when Kerri finally came back, her arms loaded down with shopping bags.

Jack saw her and jumped up to help. "Did you leave anything in the store?" he teased, earning a grin from Kerri and causing Sam to feel out-of-place again.

Jack helped Kerri unload her bags and then, armed with another beer for himself, and an iced tea for Kerri, the two joined the others in the back.

Sammie had been playing in the yard with Henry and Charlie when Kerri came out and took a seat in one of the patio chairs. Seeing the woman, Sammie went running over to say hi. "Hi, Kerri!" the little girl squealed, approaching for a hug like she had done with everyone else when they arrived.

"Hello, Samantha," Kerri replied, and then pulled back in her chair, raising her hands up in defense. "No hugs, this outfit is expensive and you are dirty," she told the little girl.

Sammie stopped dead in her tracks and gave the woman a Kawalsky glare. She put her little hands on her hips and settled her body on one leg, getting ready to retort to the woman, when Sam cut in.

She had watched the little exchange and saw the hurt-look that crossed Sammie's face before it turned to a glare. "I'd love another hug, Sammie," Sam called out, holding her arms open for the little girl.

Sammie, still in her 'attitude' position, turned her head to see Sam. Smiling widely, she ran into the arms of the blonde woman.

After a nice hug and a tight squeeze, Sammie pulled back. "You don't mind if I'm dirty, do you, Sam?" the little girl said loud enough for everyone to hear her.

Sam grinned at the little girl's audacity. "Course not," she replied with a grin. "I love dirt! In fact, I think it would be fun to turn on General O'Neill's hose and see just how muddy the two of us can get."

Sammie's smile was huge. "Let's do it!" she squealed, jumping up and pulling Sam with her.

Before long, everyone but Kerri was covered, head-to-toe, in mud. Kerri just sat on the deck, rolling her eyes as everyone else played war with the mud. Making mud-balls and throwing them at each other. Kerri snorted in disgust when Jack came squishing on the deck to check on the burgers, his entire body covered in dark mud, his face and arms black with caked on mud. As he walked, clumps of mud was falling off of him, splattering on the deck.

"What?" he asked her when he heard her snort.

"I didn't come all the way from DC to watch you and your cronies throw mud at each other," she snarled back, her anger taking over.

Jack set down the spatula and turned to the very clean woman sitting on his deck. "Can't you just lighten up for once and have some fun? Besides, I hear mud is good for the complexion."

Kerri snorted again. "I think I'll pass," she sarcastically replied, shifting in her seat to openly ignore him.

Jack watched her for a minute, wondering if he should try to make amends with her, or go back to having fun. When Sammie snuck up on the side of the deck and smeared mud all over his already muddy boots, he opted for fun and jumped over the railing to chase the small child.

Eventually, the mud war came to an end, no clear winners. And, Jack used the hose to spray everyone off. It wasn't a perfect clean-up, but everyone was good enough for now.

After eating, Sam ventured back to Jack's garage, popping the hood on her Volvo to get a good look at the engine, making sure everything was running good before she took it out.

Janet had come in while Sam's head was under the hood and informed her she was taking the car Sam had drove over home with her. Sam nodded, and a few minutes later, heard Jack saying good-bye to everyone and several car engines start up and pull out of his driveway.

Jack walked into the garage, silently watching the back of Sam under the hood. "Everyone gone?" Sam asked, not even looking up from her position.

Jack was a little surprised that she had been aware he was there and wondered if she knew he was openly gaping at her back end the whole time. "Uh, yeah, they all want showers. Go figure."

Sam laughed, but continued her work.

Jack shifted, his eyes still taking in Sam's backside. "Uh, actually, I think I'm going to go jump in to one myself. This mud is kind of itchy when it dries."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "As soon as I get the oil changed, I'm going to head back to Charlie and Janet's and probably take a nice soak in the tub."

Jack gulped as his mind taunted him with images of Sam naked in a tub, bubbles surrounding her supple skin, droplets of water covering her flesh. He shook the image from his mind before it went further.

"Uh, yeah, well, I won't be long in the shower," he told her, hoping she wouldn't leave before he got out.

"Okay, sir," she replied in a dismissive voice.

Jack nodded, even though her back was turned and she couldn't see him, and walked swiftly out of the room.

Sam finished draining out the old oil and replacing it with new when Kerri sauntered into the garage. Sam looked up and briefly thought the prissy woman looked way out of place in Jack's greasy garage.

"I know what you're doing, Col. Carter, and let me tell you, it isn't going to work," Kerri hissed at her.

Sam dropped the hood on the car and turned confused eyes to the woman. "What?"

"Your time with Jack has come and gone. He's moved on. He's with me now and I'm not giving him up."

Sam's head went back in surprise at the venomous tone the agent was using. "I wasn't suggesting you give him up," Sam replied. "I don't know what you think, but General O'Neill is my commanding officer…….and my friend. I have no intention of stealing him from you…."

"Don't play innocent with me, Samantha!" Kerri sneered and took a step towards the air force colonel. "I'm the one who lays next to him at night and hears him call out your name. I'm the one who has to look at all the photographs of you he keeps in his house. I'm the one who has to see the far-away sad look in his eyes and know that he's thinking of you, or remembering something from your past. I KNOW all about you! I knew before I ever got involved with him. It's bad enough having to deal with you haunting him in his own mind, but now you're here, alive, and you've got him wrapped around your little finger. I thought I could help him get over you, move past you, and trust me, I was making progress. I'm not giving up on him!"

Sam just stared at the woman, her blue eyes huge as she took in everything the woman had just yelled at her.

"Kerri! What the hell are you doing?" Jack's angry voice shouted from the garage door.

Kerri looked guiltily towards Jack. "I was just talking to Col. Carter," she innocently replied.

Jack scowled at the agent. "I heard your little tirade," he announced with a glare.

"I-I should go," Sam stuttered out. "I've got the car tuned up, uh, so there's no reason for me to stay, and I really do need a bath."

Jack's glare turned to Sam and softened upon contact. "Carter, you don't have to go," his voice softened as he watched her.

Sam bit her bottom lip nervously. "Yeah, I really do. Thank you for….everything, sir," she told him before opening the door and jumping in her precious Volvo, highly tempted to hug the steering wheel.

Jack watched in silence as Sam backed up out of the driveway and drove down the street. When he could no longer hear the sound of her engine, he turned his steely gaze back to the curly auburn-haired woman still standing in his garage. "You knew she was here. That's why you came."

Kerri dropped her head. "Of course I knew," she replied in a defeated tone. "I was one of the people who had to work out her cover story."

Jack sighed. He should have seen this coming. "Did you have this little confrontation planned?"

"No! I don't know! Damn it, Jack! I know what she means to you. I just needed to see for myself."

"See what for yourself?" Jack growled.

"That you still love her!"

"She's NOT my Sam! You know this!" he barked back.

"She is! Yes, so she's not _exactly _her, but at the same time, she is. And you _love_ her! Whether it's your Sam or not, can you look me in the eye and tell me you feel for me as much as you do for _her_?"

Jack stared at the woman, his brown eyes softening from their hard glaze. He took in her words, trying to sort out what she said and answer her, but finding it hard to do so. His eyes shifted around the room, worried that if he kept eye-contact she would be able to read him like a book. "Kerri!" he finally yelled in irritation, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

Kerri just sighed, her eyes filling with tears as she realized she never had a fighting chance. "I think I've caused enough damage. I'm just going to go….arrange an earlier flight back to DC."

Jack just stood in the doorway. As she went to pass, he grabbed her arm, finally meeting her gaze again. She could see the devastation staring back at her, the sadness, confusion, it ate at her gut as she saw all the turmoil Jack was in and she instantly felt guilty. She could have come here and consoled him, allowed him to open up to her and let some of the angst he had built up out. But, instead she had come and started trouble. She had let the jealousy she had always had towards Sam Carter engulf her body and take over her actions. She was ashamed.

Speechless, she passed an apologetic look towards Jack and shrugged out of his grasp. Jack watched her go, sadness and relief gnawing at his gut.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**


	12. Uh Oh!

a/n: Just a quick chap to get the story moving forward more. Hope everyone enjoys it!

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Chapter Twelve: Uh Oh!**

Charlie walked into the kitchen refreshed after his morning run and shower and went straight to the coffee pot, kissing his petite wife on the head as he passed her at the table reading the paper. "Mornin' sunshine," he said after kissing her.

"Good morning. Have a nice run?" Janet asked, lifting her coffee cup and sipping it.

"Yeah," Charlie answered, filling his cup and taking a seat across from his wife. "Sammie already roaming the neighborhood?"

Janet smiled. "She's out back playing in the sandbox. I think our little mud-war yesterday had a huge impact on her."

Charlie rolled his eyes and grinned. "It's completely Carter's fault. I say we make her wash the little monster this time."

Janet let out a small laugh. "She's already gone," she quietly replied, a sadness creeping into her normally happy eyes.

"What? Where'd she go?" Charlie asked in surprise. It was only 0900.

"She left for the base a couple hours ago. Said she wanted to get some work done." Janet shifted uneasily in her chair and met her husband's eyes. "I think something happened after we left Jack's yesterday. She came back really pale with a far-away look in her eyes. She took a bath and then hid in Cassie's room for the rest of the night and then bolted out of here first thing this morning."

Charlie lifted both his eyebrows as he listened to his wife's worried speech. "She seemed to be good before we left. She was thrilled to get her car back."

Janet nodded. "I know. We shouldn't have left her alone with Jack and Kerri. Sam was just getting used to this reality, adjusting, and then we take her out and practically throw everything that's different in her face, especially with Kerri showing up unexpectedly."

"You think Jack or Kerri did something to upset her?" Charlie asked his wife.

Janet set her coffee cup back down after taking another sip. "I don't know, it's possible. Sam may have walked in on them making out or something, who knows? Whether either of them want to admit it, there is a strong bond between Jack and Sam."

Charlie just nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with his wife. "Maybe I'll call Jack later and pick his brain….after Kerri leaves."

Janet just nodded and then sighed. "Well, I've got laundry to do," she said as she stood up, pushing the newspaper towards her husband. And, you mister, have a yard to mow."

"That's Colonel Love Master to you, ma'am!" Charlie teased.

Janet laughed out loud and turned her head to see her husband. "Only in the bedroom," she said with a grin and then left the kitchen.

Charlie grinned and shook his head at his wife's words. Picking up the paper, he settled in to read the sports page before following his wife's order of yard work.

A couple hours later, Charlie was wiping the sweat off his face with a towel after having just mowed the lawn when Jack came strolling around the side of the house and into the backyard.

Charlie set the towel down on the deck railing when he saw his friend. "Hey, Jack, what's up?"

"Hi," Jack replied in a quiet voice, his hands buried deep inside his khaki shorts pockets.

Charlie raised his eyebrows as he took in Jack's gloomy mood. "Kerri already heading back to DC?"

"Uh, yeah, she left yesterday."

"Yesterday? When?"

"Oh, right after Sam left," Jack replied in a sigh.

Charlie shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Remembering his conversation with Janet earlier, he asked, "What happened after we left?"

Jack sighed again and then waved his hands in the air, walking up on Charlie's back deck. "Not much. I took a shower, Sam finished her car, Kerri went off on Sam…."

"What?" Charlie yelped. "Why? What'd she say?"

Jack shook his head. "Just…..stuff. Basically tried to start a catfight with her. Said a few personal things she had no right to say."

Charlie's eyebrows, once again, shot up to his forehead.

"I, uh, need to talk to Sam…..apologize," Jack quietly announced.

"She's not here."

This time it was Jack's turn to look surprised. "What? Where is she?"

"She went back to the mountain early this morning. She told Janet she wanted to get some work done."

"On Sunday!" Jack yelled in anger.

"Hey," Charlie said as he shrugged his shoulders. "You know how Sam is, she gets upset about something, and she immerses herself in work. Obviously that hasn't changed."

"Damn it!" Jack cursed and took a step back. "This is my fault. I'm going to go drag her out of there," he told his friend, taking another step backwards.

"Want company?" Charlie offered.

Jack looked up at his friend, sweating with dirt and grass stuck here and there on his wet skin. "Naw, it's your day off, and besides, you really need to wash."

"Ha ha, yeah, that's what happens when real men work, they sweat!" Charlie yelled after him as Jack started his path back to his truck.

Jack turned around with a smirk on his face and his hands, once again, in his pockets. "You keep telling yourself that, Charlie, keep telling yourself," he teased before disappearing around the house.

"Ass," Charlie muttered before heading in for a large bottle of water and a cool shower.

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

"Damn it!" Sam cursed for the millionth time as she set her tool down and shook her head at the alien device. "Why won't you work?" she yelled at it.

She had been there since 0700, trying to get the dumb device to transport her back to her reality. Even with all the information claiming that it couldn't send her home, after her horrible weekend, Sam was insistent that she would find a way to get it to transport her back to her reality.

So what if she was miserable in her reality? So what if Jack was dead in her reality? At least he wasn't with someone else. Her heart was used to the loneliness after Jack died. It wasn't used to the jealousy. And, Sam preferred the familiar ache of loss over the new pain of jealousy and displacement.

She didn't belong here.

Seeing Jack with Kerri, it was all the proof she needed. How could she live in a world where Jack was in love with someone else?

She couldn't, and she wouldn't.

She was going to go home, or somewhere else, anywhere else, just not here!

"Sam? What are you doing here?" came Daniel's voice from just outside her lab door.

"Oh, hi, Daniel. I'm just trying to get some work done," she told him half-heartedly, not even trying to fake a smile.

Daniel walked in, followed by Lt. Elliot.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked him back.

"Ah, SG-17 brought back an artifact Friday and wanted me to have a look at it. Elliot and I were on our way to get a bite to eat after working on it all day," Daniel told her. "But, Sam, you've been stuck on base since you got here, you really shouldn't be here now."

Sam cringed and then walked over to her coffee pot. She had been surviving all day on coffee alone. Too involved in her work to leave and get food, so relying on her supply of coffee in her lab to fill her stomach and keep her going until she figured out how to reverse the device. "I'm fine, Daniel," she told him with a bit of ice in her tone.

"Sam!" Daniel started right back up, ignoring her warning tone and seeing the device sitting on her work table. "What are you doing? You know that thing can't send you back! You're going to drive yourself crazy with that thing! It's going to be your Moby Dick!"

"Oh, Daniel! Stop being so melodramatic! I'm sorry if you can't understand my need to find a way home!" Sam spat at him.

"Sam," Daniel said, his voice dropping in concern. "You have to let it go. You'll never be able to move on until you do."

"Easy for you to say, Daniel! You're in your reality. You belong here, I don't!"

"Sam.." Daniel started, but was cut off by a new voice.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jack roared from the door to Carter's lab.

"Sir!"

"Jack!"

"Whoa, check this out, it's me!" Lt. Elliot's voice didn't even register to the two bickering scientists who were standing in surprise at seeing Jack standing in the doorway.

"It's Sunday, for crying out loud!" Jack yelled at his two famous workaholics. "I'm ordering both of you off-base until 0900 tomorrow morning!"

"Sir…" Sam started, but was cut off by Daniel.

"Jack, SG-17 brought back a…."

"What the hell?" Jack interrupted, looking past Daniel and Sam to the scene taking place behind them.

Sam and Daniel turned around to see a full holographic image of Lt. Elliot staring back at the young man. His hand was outstretched, reaching to touch the technologically-advanced image with a huge, curious smile on his face.

"NO!" Sam yelled.

"Don't touch…." Daniel yelled at the same time, but it was too late. A pulse of bright light engulfed the room, temporarily blinding the three remaining members. When their eyes finally readjusted, Lt. Elliot, along with the device, was gone.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**


	13. Another Acquaintance

a/n: Sorry for the wait. I wanted to update Alt. Politics before updating this one again, but I seem to be at a stand-still on that one, so here's another chapter of this……

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**Chapter Thirteen: Another Acquaintance **

Sam walked along the corridor on her way to the general's office. It had been a week since Elliot's disappearance. The general had been quite pissed that day. Sam saw it in his eyes and had been avoiding him since. She had convinced him to let her stay on base, telling him she was simply more comfortable in her quarters, but as soon as he relented, Sam fled the scene, avoiding him for the past week.

So, when she was paged to his office, she was not surprised. By now, the general would have figured out an adequate punishment for allowing a lieutenant to compromise himself with an alien device, and she assumed she was being called to his office to receive her punishment.

Reaching the closed wooden door, Sam tapped twice and waited.

"Come!" General O'Neill's voice came through the door.

Sam opened the door and entered his office.

"Have a seat, colonel," Jack commanded, shuffling some papers on his desk and slipping them into a drawer.

"Sir," Sam said, taking a seat.

Jack watched her as she sat down, wondering how he had managed to distance himself so much from her over the past week. "Carter," he finally started when she noticed him staring at her. "The joint chiefs are asking for you to go to Area 51 for a short time to help build our own fleet of ships like in your universe."

"Oh," Sam responded in surprise. "Uh, okay. Do you know how long I'll be gone?"

Jack shook his head. "No. They wouldn't give me an exact time. I guess it depends on how long it takes you to get the ball rolling."

"Okay, sir. Was that it?" Sam asked, her blue eyes catching his brown, waiting for her punishment.

"Uh, yeah. That's about it. Have you been out of the mountain this week?"

Sam blinked. Where was her punishment? "Uh, yeah. Janet and I went shopping earlier this week and I spent the other day with Cassie when she came home from school."

"Good, good," Jack replied, his mind seeming to be wandering. "Ah, well, there'll be a transport waiting whenever you're ready."

"Yes, sir. Uh, sir?"

Jack looked back up, raising his eyebrows. "Carter?"

"I'd really like to apologize again for letting Lt. Elliot touch that device. It's all my fa-…"

"Carter! Stop with the apologizing already! It was an accident. Plain and simple. There is no one to blame for you being sent here and there is no one to blame for Elliot being sent….wherever. Understood?"

Sam nodded and bit her bottom lip. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Dismissed."

Sam nodded and left the room. Even though she didn't get punished, she still left his office feeling dejected. He had been distant with her. Something she was used to from her own Jack and recognized immediately. Was he sending her away on purpose? Was the fleet build just an excuse? Was he pushing her away to make Kerri happy? Sam sighed. Oh well, what could she do about it? Picking up her pace, she headed to her quarters to pack.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Sam walked back into the office she was given upon her arrival to Area 51 to hear her phone ringing. "Col. Carter," she said after picking it up.

"Hey, Carter! How goes the research?"

"Sir?" Sam asked in an amused tone.

"Of course! Who else?" his own amused voice came back.

Sam giggled. "Good. We're getting some stuff done. You?"

"Same old, same," he replied, grinning on his end of the phone. "Daniel's whining to go on another excavation. Charlie and Janet are playing kissy-face in the infirmary. Teal'c is _still_ on Dakara…."

"Aww, you miss him, don't you?" Sam cut in, a smile on her face for the first time all day.

"What? For your information, _colonel,_ I am very capable of getting along without the huge, honkin' jaffa.

Sam laughed. "Sure you are, sir. But, it's okay to miss him. I miss him, too."

"Really?" Jack asked, his tone dropping slightly.

"Yes, of course. Teal'c and I were very close."

"Yeah, I guess I sorta forgot," Jack replied, sighing over the line.

Sam bit her lip. And things had been going so well! "It's okay. It happens. I'm still forgetting about the differences until they practically hit me in the face."

"Really?" Jack asked again.

"Uh huh. When I first arrived, I was surprised to see Colonel Reynolds here. In my reality, he was leading SG-3."

"Really? SG-3? They're marines!"

Sam laughed. "I know, but General Hammond got sick of constantly having to replace the leader because of jar-head mistakes, so he just put an AF officer in charge.

"Shit! I should do that!"

Sam laughed again. "Yes, sir, you should."

The two soon hung up, but as the days passed, Sam found herself looking forward to Jack's phone calls every other day. They were never anything important, just calling to catch up and make sure she was doing okay. But, Sam absolutely loved the intimate exchange. They would talk for close to an hour and then Jack would ask if she was ready to come home yet, which she always responded with a, "Not yet, sir," and he would sigh and tell her to hurry it up. Then, she would giggle, and they would say their good-byes.

Two months into her time at Area 51, the first prototype was ready. Sam had heard that some big-wigs were coming in and she was ready in her dress blues. The prototype was outside and Sam was talking with one of her aide's in her office when she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Carter."

Sam smiled and straightened back up to her full height before turning around.

The aide grinned and quickly left the room.

"Sir?" she said, starting to turn.

Jack reached up and stopped her, setting one arm on her shoulder, the other on her hip. "Still not ready to come home yet?" he whispered in her ear, stepping up so their bodies were touching.

Sam swallowed, the feel of his body against her sending waves of desire through every pore in her body. "Almost, sir," she replied in a low, sultry voice.

"Hmm, good," he murmured, letting the hand on her shoulder drop and wrap around her waist with the other one, pulling her even closer to him. "We've missed you," he told her, nudging her ear lobe with his nose.

Sam felt her face flush in desire. Oh, all she wanted to do right now was turn around in his arms and kiss him! When had these feelings for him reemerged this strong?

As if realizing exactly what he was doing, Jack pulled away from her and coughed lightly. "Uh, so…today's the big day. You excited?"

Sam turned around, her face still flushed from their intimate contact. "Uh, no, not really," she replied.

He cocked his head to the side. "You've already been through all this?"

Sam bit her bottom lip. "Yeah," she confirmed. For some reason feeling guilty about it.

Jack took a step back. "Well, they're waiting for you," he motioned to her with a grin.

Sam smiled at him and nodded her head before walking out of her office. Her face finally returning to its normal color. 'What the hell was he thinking?' she wondered as she walked the short distance to the prototype. The feel of Jack's body still lingering on her skin.

The prototype was a gigantic success, and with the first design ready for production, Sam soon started on a prototype for the X-303, something she knew would take more time than the F-302's had. Jack continued to call every other day and when another two months had gone by and Sam finally felt like her team was capable of completing the X-303 design without her supervision, she waited patiently for him to ask the question.

"So, Carter, you ready to come home yet," he asked, just like every other day.

"Yes, sir, I think I am," she said, a full grin on her face.

"What? Really?" Jack asked in surprise.

"Yes, sir. I think they can go on from here without me."

"You sure?" he asked, still in surprise.

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Good!" he said, the glee evident in his tone.

"When can I expect you back here?"

Sam bit her lip. "Uh, well, how about Monday?"

"Great!" Jack's voice sounded exuberantly through the line.

Sam giggled. "I'll see you Monday then, sir."

"Right. Monday," Jack repeated.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Jack hung up with Sam with a huge grin on his face. She was coming home! Damn, he had really missed her!

"Uh, Jack?" Charlie's voice sounded as a light knock hit the door.

"What's up, Kawalsky?" Jack asked, still smiling about Sam.

Kawalsky crinkled his eyebrows in surprise at the happy look on his friend's face. "Uh, I was just wondering who the suit was?"

"Oh," Jack replied. "Ambassador Joe Faxon. He's being assigned here to help with negotiations. Apparently, the pentagon doesn't think I have a soft enough finesse when it comes to negotiating."

"Ah," Kawalsky replied, still curious over Jack's mood. "So, he'll be going through the gate?"

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, probably. But, I can't see it being a routine thing. He's still keeping his office in DC. I'm not sure how much time he will actually be spending here."

"Is that why you're in such a good mood? Because you don't have to deal with alien delegates anymore?"

Jack looked up at his friend in surprise. Damn! Was it that obvious he was happy? "Oh, uh, yeah, happy, happy," Jack replied and grinned widely at his long-time friend.

Kawalsky just narrowed his eyes at the general, not believing a single word.

**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

On Monday, Jack was practically bouncing off the walls in anticipation of Sam's arrival. He wasn't sure when things had changed, but he knew that the moment she left for Area 51, he felt empty inside. It had taken him two weeks before he had finally built up the courage to call her, and boy was he glad that he had! They had talked and gotten along so well that he continued calling her every other day. He would have made it every day, but he didn't want to appear desperate.

He was pacing his office when the phone rang, picking it up the airmen on the other end informed him that Colonel Carter had just signed in.

Yay! Jack's mind shouted as his eyes danced in glee. He felt like a teenager! His original plan was to wait in his office for her to come down and check in, but the more he thought about how close they had been, how her body had felt pressed up against his before the prototype demonstration, the more he couldn't sit and wait. So, approximately 45 seconds after receiving the call that Sam was on base, Jack left his office and headed down to her lab.

He was whistling, his hands buried in his pockets as he turned the last corner before her lab.

"Ambassador?" he heard her voice around the corner.

"Have we met?" Joe Faxon's voice reached Jack just as he turned the corner to see Faxon and Carter.

Sam's face had gone a shade of white as she looked at the man before her with wide eyes. "Uh, no?" Sam's voice replied, cracking a little.

Joe eyed her for a moment before responding. "You're the woman from another reality?"

Sam's blue eyes met his, searching for something.

"I-I read the file. Uh, Colonel Carter, right?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, that's me."

The ambassador's eyes swept Sam's face in appreciation. "We knew each other in your reality?"

Sam nodded. "Just briefly," she replied, diverting her eyes elsewhere.

"Just briefly?" he asked in a soft voice, his arm coming up and resting on Sam's upper arm.

That was it! Jack was NOT watching any more of this. "Carter!" he croaked out, walking up to her. "You're back!" he said, trying to smile and feign innocence.

Sam awarded him with one of her bright smiles. "Yes, sir. Just returned."

"Good. Breakfast?" Jack asked, motioning towards the commissary.

Sam looked over at the ambassador, his soft eyes still staring at her. "Uh, sure, sir," Sam replied and nodded at the ambassador.

"Ambassador," Jack said in dismissal, nodding his own head at Faxon before walking away with Sam. There was no way in hell he was inviting that man to join them!

Once they entered the elevator, Jack turned to size up his colonel. "So, you knew Faxon?"

Sam gulped, trying to dislodge the lump in her throat. "Uh, yeah. He, um, died," she told him, frowning.

"Died?" Jack replied in surprise. "Is there anyone in your reality still alive?" he joked.

Sam smiled, looking up and meeting his gaze. "He died saving earth from the Aschen," she announced in a sad tone.

Jack felt his heart flop. Was that sentiment in her voice? Did she feel something for the ambassador? "So, uh, you and Faxon?"

"One date," she replied. "Before he died, just……. one date."

"Ah," Jack replied, his hands in his pockets as he swayed back and forth on his heels. His world crumbling around him as his heart filled with pain over the unexpected news.

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	14. Surprise!

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

a/n: Here is the chapter you've all been waiting for! Ignore any mistakes. And, thanks again for the wonderful reviews!

**---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Chapter Fourteen: Surprise!**

Jack knew an ambush when he saw it. And, Kawalsky, Daniel, and Boyd walking into his office in the middle of the afternoon, armed with cake was most definitely an ambush.

"Boys?" Jack drawled out, sitting up straighter in his seat and raising his eyebrow in enquiry.

"Thought you might like some cake, sir," Boyd spoke up first, setting the small plate down on Jack's desk.

"Why?" Jack asked, grabbing the plate and pulling it towards him. He knew it was bait, but for crying out loud, it was CHOCOLATE!

"Well, you've been cooped up in here for the last week, we thought you might like a break," Kawalsky started, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

Jack glared at his second-in-command while shoveling a large fork of cake in his mouth.

"We thought with Carter coming back, you'd be spending more time…"

"What?" Jack's sharp voice cut him off.

"Jack," Daniel spoke up, trying to keep Jack from ripping Charlie apart.

"Daniel," Jack snapped back.

"She went on a second date with Faxon last night," Kawalsky announced.

Jack's head went back down at Charlie's words, his eyes now locked on the sweet-tasting cake before him. "And, this affects me…….?"

"Jack, don't be an ass," Daniel retorted.

"The girls were talking down in the infirmary this morning," Kawalsky continued. "He kissed her.."

"Good for him," Jack replied in a fake cheery voice.

"Jack!" Kawalsky whined.

"What? For all we know, he could be who she is supposed to be with. He was dead in her reality, too," Jack said in an aggravated tone.

"You can't mean that," Daniel spoke up.

"I can, and I do!"

Kawalsky looked at Daniel and both men rolled their eyes at Jack's bull-headedness.

"We kind of walked in on the girls and overheard their conversation."

Jack's head went back up to look at three of his best friends. "Overheard or spying?" Jack asked accusingly.

For their part, all three men dropped their heads with sheepish looks.

It was Kawalsky who first got up the courage to continue. "She said she didn't feel anything when Faxon kissed her."

Jack swallowed the lump in his throat as he tried to act nonchalant. "So?" he asked in an irritated voice.

Daniel shifted in his seat, wondering why Jack always made things harder than they should be. "Jack, she said he wasn't the one she wanted to be kissing."

"And, what does that have to do with me?"

"Jack!" Daniel and Kawalsky yelled at the same time, while Boyd yelled,

"Sir!"

"It doesn't!" Jack announced, pushing the empty cake plate across his desk and standing up. "Now, if you guys don't mind, some of us around here do actually have to work," he finished, glaring pointedly at Kawalsky.

"Jack, just talk to her. Please," Daniel whined before getting up.

Jack stuck his tongue out enough to wet his lips just a bit. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he looked back down at his desk. "We'll see," he said quietly.

Daniel, happy with Jack's answer, stood up and sauntered out of the office behind Kawalsky and Boyd.

Jack sat back down at his desk and ran his hands through his short silver hair, groaning loudly.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

A few days later, Jack walked into the infirmary and immediately spotted Col. Carter sitting in their usual spot. Even from the distance away, he could tell she was sifting through the real estate ads. "I'm not too late," he mumbled in relief and walked over to have a seat with the gorgeous blonde.

"Hi, sir," Sam greeted with a huge grin when Jack sat down.

"Hi," he replied , grinning back. "Any luck?"

Sam set the paper down with a groan. "No. Nothing. It looks like I'm going to be living on base forever."

Jack let out a small laugh.

"What?" Sam asked in surprise, not expecting Jack to laugh over her dilemma.

"Come with me, I've got something to show you."

Sam eyed the man before her suspiciously. "What?"

Jack smirked. "It's a surprise." Standing up, he held his hand out for her to take. "Come on."

Sam let a small grin work its way on her face as she took his hand and stood up.

She was a little surprised, but made no move to remove it as Jack continued to hold her hand and pull her down the SGC corridor and towards the elevators.

They got to the surface and Jack finally let go of her hand so she could sign out before heading to his truck.

"Sir, where are we going?" Sam asked as they reached his truck.

"Ah-ah, I said it was a surprise," Jack playfully replied, opening the passenger-side door for Sam.

Sam couldn't help it, the smile just wouldn't leave her face. The general was so cute like this! She shook her head and then climbed into his truck.

"Here ya go, put this on," he told her, handing her a blindfold.

"What? You've got to be kidding me, sir.."

"Ah-ah, Carter, no whining. Put it on."

Sam snatched the blindfold out of his hands, glaring at him in faux-anger before putting it over her eyes.

Jack laughed at her little fit and then shut her door before running around and getting in the driver's seat.

He knew Carter well, and he knew she was calculating every mile and turn in her head with military precision. So, Jack made sure to go the long way, taking back roads and side streets and even driving around in a few circles so she wouldn't be able to tell where he was taking her.

When he finally stopped the truck, he ordered Sam to keep the blindfold on and ran over to her side of the truck, letting her out.

"Okay," Jack said, holding her hand in one hand while resting the other on her back as he led her through the gate and stopped. "Surprise," he whispered in her ear and then pulled the blindfold off.

Sam stood there and stared, unbelievingly at………her house. Her house, from her reality. Probably the house of her counterpart of this reality at one time, too. "I-I," Sam stuttered, too shocked to form a sentence.

"It's yours," Jack told her, his hand unconsciously rubbing her back in small circles.

"I-I…..how?" Sam asked, turning wide blue eyes to Jack.

Jack grinned. He floored her! She was completely surprised about this and he was quite proud of himself. "Mark sold it after you died. Uh, the people who bought it recently had triplets and really needed a bigger house, so I bought it off of them."

"Oh, sir," Sam cried, her eyes filling with unshed tears.

Jack squeezed her hand and patted her back before pulling her towards the door. "Come on, I already unpacked the stuff from my house."

Again, Sam was shocked. He had gone through a lot for her. Speechless, Sam followed Jack inside.

The house was almost completely furnished. Most items Sam recognized. A few she had never seen before. And still, a few items of furniture were missing completely; like the big comfy chair she used to have in her living room.

"I bought a few things for you, and all of your stuff from my attic is here, but a few things Mark took and I don't know if he'll give them back or even if he still has them," Jack continued on talking as he led Sam throughout her much-missed little home.

When the tour was finished, Sam was still dazed. "Sir, I don't know how to thank you…" she started, but was cut off from Jack.

"Not a problem."

Sam bit her bottom lip. "Thank you, sir," she whispered hoarsely and then lunged herself into his arms.

He immediately wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. "I said it's not a problem, Carter, I was happy to do it, stop crying," he soothed in a gentle voice, his hold on her not lessening at all as she sniffled on his shoulder.

Sam tightened her hold on him in response. The sobs were so close, she knew if she opened her mouth to speak, they would force their way out.

Jack was contemplating letting her go when he felt her lips press a soft kiss to his neck. He froze, all coherent thought quickly flying out of his head. He leaned his head towards hers and kissed her temple, taking a hand and running it through her blonde locks.

Sam's mouth came up and kissed his jaw line.

Bolts of desire shot through his body in a flash, his hands came up immediately and cupped her face, his lips finding hers in one breath.

They kissed. Their lips and tongues exploring the other, tasting and feeling what had only been a dream for much too long.

"Do I have a bed?" Sam panted in between kisses.

"Uh-huh."

"Good," she told him before capturing his lips again and dragging him towards the bedroom at the same time.

They made love for the rest of the afternoon, Sam learning the feel and pleasure of Jack's body. Jack rediscovering Sam once again. The little voice in his head was a big help in this department. It knew exactly what Sam liked and how best to please her.

Which he did, over and over again.

**-------------------------------------------------------------**

They were laying in each other's arms, Sam had fallen asleep after their love-making and Jack was enjoying just holding her. His pants had ended up on the nightstand next to the bed, and with wonderful maneuvering skills, Jack was able to wiggle enough to retrieve his cell phone out of his pants.

He dialed the SGC and asked for Walter.

"Hey, Walter. I'm not going to be in for the rest of the day."

"Ok, sir," Walter replied.

Sam opened her eyes and scooted in closer to Jack, kissing his bare chest.

"Col. Carter won't be back today, either," Jack added.

"Doesn't Colonel Carter live here, sir?" Walter asked in confusion.

"Yeah, not anymore Walter."

"Yes, sir. So, you and Col. Carter will not be reporting back to work today? Is there any other number you want us to call in case of an emergency?"

"Our cells will be fine, Walter."

"Yes, sir," Walter replied. "Enjoy the rest of your day."

"Oh, I plan to Walter. I plan to," he said and then hung up.

Sam giggled in his chest. "You know the rumors will be all over the base by the time we get back there?"

"I know," Jack replied with a grin, playing with her hair. Then, remembering the ambassador, "That doesn't bother you, does it?"

"No, why should it," she murmured, snuggling back into him after he put his phone down and readjusted on the bed.

"Faxon might hear."

Sam nodded and looked up in his deep dark eyes. "I'll feel a little bad if he finds out before I tell him, but not enough to get out of this bed."

Jack wrapped his arms around her and pulled her on top of him as he maneuvered to his back. "You mean that? You want to be with me?" he asked, desperation evident in his voice.

Sam grinned and leaned down to capture his lips with her own. "It's you I want, Jack. It always has been."

With that, Jack flipped them in one fell swoop, laying above her, he kissed her again, telling her the same without the words.

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Two months later:

"What? Do they have sensors in my house or something?" Jack groaned as he set his bag down and reached for his ringing cell phone.

Sam giggled while slipping her shoes off and heading to Jack's kitchen for a drink. Sam could never remember being as happy as she had been with Jack these last two months. She was totally and completely in love with him.

She had been in love with her Colonel O'Neill. But, this love was so different, so much stronger, so _real._

As much as she had admired, respected, and loved Col. O'Neill, she was never able to take that next step with him. That next step into intimacy that she had taken with Jack. She would always love Colonel O'Neill and he would always be in her heart, but she was madly in love with General O'Neill. Something she had given up ever feeling the day a jaffa fired his staff weapon and killed the colonel.

The same things she loved about the colonel, she loved about the general.

The same things that irked her about the colonel, still irked her about the general.

The same nuances, comments, gestures she had memorized of the colonel, were the same in the general.

They were the same in so many ways and Sam felt her heart heal more and more each day as she fell more and more in love with Jack.

"At least they waited until we got back," Sam yelled over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen. They had just gotten back from a weekend getaway to Jack's cabin in Minnesota.

She opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, taking a large drink of it before setting it down on the counter and perusing more in the fridge for something to make for dinner.

"Don't bother, we have to go in," Jack said in a sulky voice from the doorway.

Sam stood up and shut the refrigerator, turning around to see Jack. "It can't wait?" she whined.

"Apparently not. We got visitors through the quantum mirror."

"What?" Sam gasped. "Wow!"

"Yeah," Jack sighed. "You ready?"

"Uh-huh," Sam replied and followed Jack back to the truck.

As soon as they were in the sanctuary of his truck and he had started the engine, he turned to Sam. "It's Elliot. Whatever reality he went to was able to find a quantum mirror."

"Wow!" Sam said again, still surprised by the recent news.

It didn't take them long to get to the SGC and upon arriving, an airmen told them Kawalsky was waiting in the infirmary with their 'guests.' The two made quick time getting to the infirmary.

Sam walked in first, seeing Elliot on a gurney, she smiled just before hearing Daniel's familiar voice shout out, "SAM! Thank God! We've spent months trying to find you!"

Sam's eyes widened as she took in two separate Daniel's. Then coming into view beside Daniel was Teal'c and Col. Mitchell."

"D-Daniel?" she questioned in shock.

"Yeah, it's me! Elliot came to our reality. He told us where you were and we found a mirror. We came to take you home!"

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**One chapter left to go……..**


	15. A Sam Without a Jack?

**Chapter Fifteen: A Sam without a Jack?**

**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

_Previously:_

"_D-Daniel?" she questioned in shock._

"_Yeah, it's me! Elliot came to our reality. He told us where you were and we found a mirror. We came to take you home!"_

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_And now…….._

Everyone's eyes were on Sam, standing in the middle of the infirmary, her face the picture of surprise. Jack stepped back and against the wall, his own face reflecting shock as well. This couldn't be happening! This could NOT be happening!

Sam realized all eyes were on her, and at the same time, really realized that the man in front of her, was in fact, her Daniel. She let a little of the surprise on her face fall and warmth and love filled her eyes for her people, her reality. "Daniel," she said again, more confidently, a small smile gaining space on her pale features.

Daniel's grin grew larger and he launched himself in Sam's arms. "Sam! Oh, we've missed you!" he expelled, holding his long-time friend in a tight bear-hug.

Sam wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back, a tear escaping her eye. "I've missed you, too, Daniel, all of you," she added, looking up and seeing Teal'c and Mitchell hovering. She opened her arms and was immediately filled with a larger-than-life jaffa and an impatient lieutenant colonel, along with her rambunctious archaeologist.

As the four hugged in the middle of the infirmary, all eyes belonging to the current reality shifted to the man against the wall. Worry, grief, and sadness filling their hearts as they saw the look of pain flash across his face before he shifted and hid everything under his mask of indifference.

Jack could feel his people's eyes boring into him and knew he had to get out of their scrutiny, coughing to break up the little reunion taking place, he lifted his hands and gestured towards the door. "We should…probably take this to the briefing room," he told them, his controlled voice a direct contrast to the turbulent storm wreaking havoc through his body.

Sam swallowed the lump in her throat when she saw Jack's discomfort, nodding, she smiled at her people and then started for the briefing room.

As the large group worked their way to the briefing room, Sam tried to talk to Jack, she reached him, his long legs taking large steps in hurry. "Jack," she said in a low voice, grabbing the sleeve of his shirt.

"Not now, colonel," he snapped back and lengthened his stride even more.

Sam stopped, sorrow filling her heart. He was going to push her away now. He was just going to let her go. Sam took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Why was this happening?

Sam was the last to enter the briefing room, and was a little surprised to see it quite so full. Lt. Elliot, her Daniel, Teal'c, and Mitchell, along with Kawalsky, Boyd, Daniel, and the general were already sitting around the table.

She noticed they had left the seat next to Jack empty. Kawalsky was on one side, but the other was empty, for her, she knew that. Fighting back the grief, Sam walked over and took her seat.

Immediately, Daniel started spilling the tale of what happened after Sam vanished from their reality. Daniel had correctly translated the writings in the chamber, and knew just as much as the Daniel of the present reality. They had no idea how to get Sam back until, out of the blue, Lt. Elliot appeared in Sam's lab.

Lt. Elliot picked up from there, explaining how he had no idea what had happened and was discovered by Col. Mitchell moments after arriving. He had been taken to the infirmary where he told them all he knew while they ran every possible test on him.

Sam couldn't help but remember how she had been imprisoned upon her arrival in this reality and was thankful her people had not done the same to Elliot.

Daniel, in excitement, cut off Elliot and continued the story. He told them how Elliot had been from the reality where Sam had gone and how he must have been transported to their reality because he had that reality on his mind after learning about it through Sam.

Daniel began rambling on about the impressive technology and writings in the temple at Dakara, so Mitchell took over and finished the long spiel. He explained that once they knew where Sam was, they began hunting for a quantum mirror, and with Elliot's help, found the correct reality and came through.

Once the long story was finally all out, Jack ordered drinks and food brought up from the commissary and everyone mingled in the briefing room. Daniel and Daniel were talking rapidly with each other, while Teal'c and Jack spoke quietly in the corner. Mitchell, Kawalksy, Elliot and Boyd sat at the table and discussed the differences in realities, while Sam felt out of place. What was she supposed to do? Who was she supposed to go to? What reality was hers?

A little while later, Janet had joined the mix with test results and Jack had retreated to his office to let the joint chiefs know what was going on. Daniel, Teal'c and Mitchell were all shocked to discover the petite doctor was married to Kawalsky and had a daughter.

Jack had hung up the phone with the joint chiefs and sighed, his hands instinctively running through his silver hair when he heard a light knock on the door leading to the briefing room. He looked up and saw Lt. Elliot standing on the other side. He waved for him to come in.

"Sir," Elliot greeted, walking in, leaving the door open a crack.

"At ease, lieutenant," Jack announced with a sigh. "Some trip, huh?" Jack asked with a laugh.

Elliot chuckled. "Yes, sir!" he agreed, relaxing more as he stood in front of his CO's desk.

Jack eyed the young man before him. He had developed into quite an efficient and mature officer, and he found himself quite proud of the young man. "It's good to have you back, lieutenant," Jack announced.

Elliot shifted uneasily on his feet. "Uh, actually, sir, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Jack raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Oh?"

"Sir," Elliot started, nervously. "I would like to take this time to tell you what an honor it has been working with you."

"But," Jack filled the space when Elliot had paused his speech.

"But, I will be returning to the other reality."

Jack's gaze took in the officer before him and he settled back in his chair. "Is that so?"

"Yes, sir," Elliot replied.

"May I ask why?"

Elliot kept his eyes on his CO, trying hard not to be intimidated by the general's sharp tone. "Sir, the device sent me to a reality where I belong. I would be a fool not to take advantage of that. I-I forgot…"

"Forgot what, son?" Jack asked when, once again, Elliot had paused.

Elliot blinked. "I forgot how much I cared for Jennifer Hailey, sir."

Jack leaned forward in his seat. "So, you're going back for a girl?" he asked, his voice turning vicious.

Elliot gulped. "No, sir. I'm going back because it's where I belong."

Jack stood up, his anger at the whole situation finally taking control. "Then why the hell did you come back at all!" he yelled, his fists clutched on his desk, the knuckles white from the stress.

Elliot took a step back, his face full of fear as he witnessed the anger radiating from his commanding officer. "S-sir?" he meekly responded, but was cut off by Sam coming into the office.

"Lieutenant, it's okay," she told him with soft eyes and nodded for him to leave.

"Ma'am," he replied in relief and rushed to the door, more than happy to get away from the irate general. He had not expected him to take it that bad!

"Jack," Sam started, her eyes locking on the angry eyes of the general.

"Don't" he immediately replied, his voice faltering slightly, but still filled with venom.

Sam crossed her arms on her chest and glared at the man she loved. "I'm not going anywhere, Jack," she announced in a calm, yet still angry voice. "Did you really think I would just leave you?"

Jack's eyes softened instantly. "It's your reality," he shakily replied.

Sam cocked her head. "Is it?" she asked and licked her lips.

Jack just stared at her, confusion taking the place of his anger.

Sam lowered her head and sighed. Lifting it again, she pointed towards the briefing room. "I'd better get back. Are you coming?"

Jack swallowed hard. "Uh, yeah, just ah, give me a minute."

Sam nodded and turned, walking back out to the briefing room.

An hour later, everyone but Sam had left the briefing room. Elliot had gone to gather his belongings and say his good-byes. Everyone else had wandered off to do something or other before the guests departed through the mirror.

Sam was standing in front of the large window, staring down in absent-thought at the stargate. Since returning from Area 51, she had been going through the gate frequently, mostly with SG-1. She hadn't been officially assigned to any team, and she secretly enjoyed the flexibility that offered. She heard the footsteps enter the room, and immediately knew who they belonged to.

"You're not coming back with us, are you?" Daniel's soft voice cut across the briefing room.

Sam turned slowly and smiled at her friend. Licking her lips, she looked at her friend lovingly before replying, "No."

"Sam," Daniel replied, walking up to her. "Are you sure?" he asked when he reached her, taking her hands in his.

Sam nodded. "I am, Daniel. I love you, and I'm going to miss you, all of you, but……I belong here….I can feel it."

Daniel watched his friend, taking in her words, trying to read in her face what she wasn't saying with her lips. "You found Jack," he finally said in a soft voice.

Sam lowered her head. "Yeah," was all she could say.

Daniel squeezed her hands. "I'm happy for you, you know. I might be massively depressed that you're not coming back with us…..but still…..if you're happy…." Daniel shrugged, and Sam looked back up at him, tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Daniel!" she cried and wrapped her arms around him once again, hugging the man who she had loved like a brother for so long.

No more words were needed between them.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I don't want you to stay for me," Jack's strong, soft voice sounded from behind Sam. She had ventured to her lab for some privacy before her team left back through the mirror.

Sam didn't turn around. "I'm not," she quietly replied.

Jack stepped into her lab, his presence filling every nook and cranny in the room. "Then why?" he croaked.

This time, Sam did turn, if not just to see the look of anguish on his face. "I'm doing it for me, Jack."

Jack took another step, coming right up to her. "But, it's your life, Sam. You can go back and have everything back again."

"Not you," she whispered, looking up into his dark eyes.

"I'm not worth giving everything up for…."

Sam lowered her head. "The device was right, Jack. I don't belong in that reality anymore."

"Sam…"

Sam cut him off, her blazing blue eyes shooting up to meet his once again. "You said it right the first time, Jack. There can't be a Sam without a Jack. I knew it, when you said it. I knew it was true. I'm nothing without you."

"God, Sam," Jack moaned, pulling her into his arms. "You're so much more."

"No, I'm not, Jack. I'm not. You-You make me who I am. You complete me."

Jack pulled away to look into the loving face of the woman he never imagined he could love so God damn much. He stroked her face with his thumb, wiping away the tears that were wetting her cheeks. Unable to form the words that would complement her confession, Jack merely lowered his mouth to hers, expressing his love the best way he knew how.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel touched the quantum mirror and felt the familiar tingle as he reappeared on the other side, the feeling of displacement quickly evaporating. He looked up at the mirror, Sam crying on the other side, in the arms of General Jack O'Neill, a friend he never thought he'd see again.

His heart was happy and sad all at the same time. He would desperately miss Sam, but at the same time, he knew she was finally happy. Finally able to be with the man she had loved from afar for way too long.

A sad smile swept across his face as he watched two of his best friends, a world away, slowly fade as the mirror deactivated.

Teal'c's large hand came to rest on Daniel's shoulder.

"I can't believe they're gone," Daniel finally spoke up.

"They should not be mourned, DanielJackson. ColonelCarter has been unhappy for quite some time. I believe the device, in which you claim is flawed, was correct in sending ColonelCarter to that specific reality."

Daniel's wide, inquisitive eyes turned to take in his large friend. "Really?"

"Indeed, DanielJackson. ColonelCarter has found where she belongs. We should rejoice in her happiness."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, Teal'c, I think you're right," he told him, taking one more small glance at the mirror. "And, we can always visit."

"Indeed," Teal'c replied, both men turning towards the door.

"So, wanna go with me to inform Hailey she has to fill Sam's shoes permanently now?"

"Indeed."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Our Reality: right after Ripple Effect**

"Hey," Major General Jack O'Neill said, walking in to the lab of Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter.

"Hey, yourself," Sam replied, turning and grinning at the silver-haired man still wearing his dress blues. "Briefing over?" she asked, her eyes dancing in merriment as she took in the man before her.

"Uh huh," he replied, picking up a device sitting on her worktable. "Kind of disappointed I missed a roomful of Carters. Damn paperwork, I could've gotten here yesterday before they left."

Sam chuckled. "Sir, exactly what would you do with a roomful of Carters?"

Jack's eyebrows shot up suggestively. "Oh, I could think of a few things, Carter," he drawled out with a sexy smirk.

Sam grinned and shook her head.

"What's this?" he asked, his attention drawing to the doohickey he was playing with.

"It's a device that transports a person to a different reality."

Jack immediately dropped the device, wiping his hands off on his pants as if the device had contaminated them. "What?"

Sam laughed and picked up the device. "Don't worry. It's perfectly harmless to us, look," she said and touched the device to make it hum, a holographic image of herself appearing from the top."

"Sweet!" Jack exclaimed, forgetting his discomfort. "That's one life-like hologram."

"Uh-huh," Sam replied and swept her hand through the hologram, the image rippling as her hand passed through.

"So, how does it transport you to another reality?" Jack questioned.

"It won't send us. It only sends people who are no longer fulfilling their destiny."

"Huh?" Jack asked, cocking his head in disbelief.

Sam grinned again. "It mostly works on people who have lost their significant other. Don't worry, sir, we won't be affected."

"Hmm, is that right, colonel?" Jack hummed, invading her personal space and wrapping an arm around her waist. "And how can you be so sure?"

"You know all those Carters you were so excited about?"

"Uh-huh," he absently replied, his tongue running along her earlobe.

"One of the Carter's lost her Jack," Sam laughed and pushed back when his tongue had reached the ticklish spot behind her ear. "The device sent her to another reality where she ended up marrying the General O'Neill from that reality."

"Really?" Jack asked, pulling back enough to look at Sam, his forehead still pressed against hers.

Sam nodded. "Uh-huh. Their reality is quite different from ours. They've been married for a week now."

"A whole week?" Jack teased.

Sam grinned. "This was her first mission after their impromptu honeymoon."

"Well, then, I'm glad she got home," Jack quietly replied, his lips descending on hers.

When they pulled back, Jack looked in her eyes, lovingly, his hand cupping her face, his thumb caressing her cheek. "Are you ready for our impromptu honeymoon?" he asked.

Sam crinkled her forehead. "I think a wedding is supposed to come first," she replied.

"Yeah, well, once in awhile it's nice to have dessert before dinner," he teased, his smirk spreading to a full grin.

Sam laughed and punched him lightly in the arm, rolling her eyes.

"Fine, fine. We'll have the wedding first," he whined, rubbing his arm dramatically.

Sam looked at him in disbelief as he pulled a small velvet box out from behind him. "So, what do you say?" he asked, a grin still on his face, though his eyes were full of nervousness.

Sam took the ring out of the box and placed it on her finger. "I say, why not have a little dessert before the dinner."

Jack's grin broke across his whole face as he pulled Sam into his arms. "A little dessert can't hurt," he confirmed before capturing her lips in a kiss shared all throughout the infinite multiple realities.

The end.

**-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

A/N: It's been fun writing this. I hope everyone enjoyed the ending. I couldn't resist throwing our reality in at the end. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts. Thanks for sticking with me through this.


End file.
